Whispers of a Treasure
by babygurl213
Summary: They say these woods are haunted by demons, a cold shiver ran through him.Hmph! the very one who is leading us is a demon, and a half one at that, a soldier spat as he glared at the young General in a red haori, the fur made from the ancient fire rat.
1. Attacked

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and Company. Wish I did though so I could touch his cute, cuddly ears. But alas, even those are a far away dream to for they belong to Rumiko Takahashi, and only her (starts crying in a mess of tears).

CHAPTER 1- ATTACKED

A fierce scowl spread across the features of the general; who wore a red haori made out of the rare and ancient fire rat. He rode a fierce stallion with such power in each of his strides that even the soldiers that rode along him quivered with slight fear. "They say these woods are haunted by demons", a short, and stout looking soldier whispered to a fellow man next to him. "Are you afraid", the tall youth teased. "N-no of course not", he replied defensively. "Ha! Idiots. Don't you know that we are following the orders of a demon himself. And a half one by the looks of it", a man with a bulging belly sneered. The soldier that first began the conversation looked towards the front of the line where the general himself was in the lead.

"Are- are you sure... he looks ordinary to me".

"Don't be fooled boy...just look at his features, of course that can't be normal", the large man huffed.

Just then the general turned his head slowly and shot a dark glare at the whispering soldiers. "G-g-g-geh! he heard us", the short stout man nearly fainted, while his companions turned a bit pale.

With a loud snort the general turned his attention back towards the front, and twitched his ears left to right to discern the sounds of the night.

"We camp here!", he suddenly barked after many hours into the night.

"Yes sir!", the entire army of men replied in unison, with an air of wariness behind their voices.

The general leaped off his stallion with grace and proceeded towards one of the tents set up for his presence and commanding superiors.

As he walked towards his desolate tent he heard many of his soldiers groan and whine about what a rough day of riding they have had.

The general just snorted in dissmisal to the complainers that had no idea that their general could easily catch even the most quiet of sounds miles away.

He stretched on a comfortable futon , popping every tense bone and muscle in his well toned body.

"Damn what a day. To think that the lazy, bum of an emperor would send and army of troops out into the middle of nowhere for this gold shit", the general carelessly yawned as he got even more comfortable.

"Hm? It does sound pretty suspicious to me my friend. The rumour of what they say if demons lurking in these woods is probably what made the emperor send all these troops out here in the first place", a charming, tall and elegant Lieutenant, with a ponytail at the base of his neck, nodded with the conclusion of his theory.

"Keh! you don't believe that bull shit now do you? And remember I am demon myself, well half demon that is", the General spat his words with venom. He hated what he was, and his soldiers knew all too well that he was a half-breed now, no thanks to that slob of a man who slandered his title. How dare he? Well when they settled in Magasaki town, he'd make sure that he got extra special training treatment, the hanyou thought darkly to himself.

"No not the kind you are my friend, I meant fiercesome demons that will eat the flesh of any creature, man or demon may it be".

"Quiet Lieutenant, you know as well as I do that those are merely rumours that help protect this forest from being turned upside down with trespassers", a beautiful, slender women known as demon slayer by reputation announced as she lifted up the corner fold to the tent's entrance. She wore a tightly fitting black suit that manuevered with her dashing flexability, covered with pink body armour made out of the hide from once known strong demons. She held many secret, and effective weapons under each pink piece of armour, and only took them out when necessary.

"Sango my dearest won't you join us for a bit of sake this lovely evening".

"Watch it Priest! keep that hand that hand you claim to be cursed at a distance or I'll hack it off", the demon slayer sneered as she down opposite of the pervert.

"But it is cursed my dearest. I just have no control over it", the Lieutenant whined.

"Only when he's around you Sango", the General smirked as he interrupted into their conversation.

The demon slayer flushed a bright pink, which the hanyou noticed, but dismissed quickly with a change of topic.

"So are we close to Magasaki town?"

"About two to three days more in journey General".

"Sango I've told you once and I'll tell you again. No titles in private. It's nerve wrecking and I hate it".

"Yes Inuyasha, although I do prefer handsome", she teased.

"Ha ha ha your teasing will get you fired", he replied smoothly with sarcasm behind it.

" Hey what about me my dearest Sango? Do you leave your beloved and future husband in the dust without a compliment?"

"Keep dreaming Priest", Sango tossed behind her back as she lifted the tent covering and walked into the cool night air for a quick patrol aroud camp.

"Hmph! Why does she compliment you and not I", the Lieutenant slumped onto the floor as if he was defeated by a mighty warrior.

"She was only joking you know that right. It's just a kick that she gets out of whenever she sees you jealous over her. Besides we've known each other forever and it's obvious she wants to marry you, but you can't see she's trying to play hard to get. That and the fact that you're such a womanizer which really hurts her to see considering she likes ya", Inuyasha snorted with disdain.

The Lieutenant blinked a couple times as he tried to process the information his long time best friend had just provided. "Really?... well I..."

"Keh of course she does idiot. Not only that you're about the only thing that she talks about all the time. Now it's up to your ass to propose to her properly without groping her when you do it too. That...", he smirked playfully, "You can do later", he added while pouring himself a cupfull of sake.

"Wow!" , the Lieutenant stated in awe,"That's pretty deep stuff my friend. Who ever knew you could give pretty good advice. But I guess that's what you get when you're oh so happily married...with Kikyo?", he smirked playfully, while he stared at him with one eye.

Inuyasha took an even larger amount of sake than he'd anticipated and began to choke. While he spat and coughed his sake trying to clear it from his windpipe he heard his good friend's sly voice as if he had just discovered something.

"Too stuned to speak or am I right?''

"Fuck you Miroku I don't even want to talk about the bitch right now", he snapped.

"Well I suppose, but you do owe me an explanation as to why you didn't even send me and invitation to your wedding, and it was only a week ago! Why are you even on this mission? You should be spending time on your honeymoon or something. What gives, don't you love her".

"Shut up with the questions already you nosy prick! If you want to know why I didn't send an invitation is cause she wouldn't let me. No good for nothing wench I've had it up to here with her bullshit nonsense, lousy bitch!", Inuyasha mumbled darkly more to himself than to the man sitting across from him looking sorry for him.

"Do you want to talk about it? It'll probably make ya feel better my friend".

Inuyasha sighed and ran a hand through his head, indicating frustration.

"Fine then, but tell no one or I'll kill you"

"You have my word of honour my friend"

Inuyasha sighed before he began telling his good friend all his troubles "I thought she cared about me, but when I married her she became distant almost...cold. It wasn't like that when we talked during the time when I was courting her, she was open and caring, well not alot she did have her times when she didn't even want to see me, but still she talked to me more so than now.", he shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

"But that's not what's bothering now is it?"

"No, there's also the fact that when..." he sighed," I touched her, she wasn't a virgin like she claimed to be. Even worse was the fact that I could still smell the scent of another man on her. Still fresh."

"Inuyasha... I'm sorry I didn't know"

"Don't apologize Miroku, you had nothing to do with it at all. But... I think she did it all on purpose", he stated glumly.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well she knew I was a half-demon before we got married and she looked downright pissed that I didn't tell her any sooner."

"What do you mean by that, wouldn't she have noticed when you were courting her?"

Inuyasha looked away embarassed, "Well you see I always wore a hat whenever I was in her presence and I lied about my claws, my fangs and even eyes. So in truth she never noticed anything, although she did grow suspicious."

"I see"

" I Didn't know what to do I knew she hated demons, let alone a half one, but I just couldn't help it I was desperate to have someone I could share my life with", Inuyasha knew that this was a lie. The only reason he really married was because he was jealous. Downright, pure jealousy. Every single day he would see his two best friends hit it off , well not all the time, but whenever he would see it; their devotion, their love for one another no matter how odd at times, and most of all when Miroku would put himself in danger for Sango, and her in return would shed tears for the guy. He longed for someone like Sango and in truth he had wanted her once , and it still killed him that Miroku was the sole captor of her heart and not him, but he pushed it away before it drove him insane. So it was a sacrafice for their happiness alone.

"So what will you do about her Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha took a big gulp of his sake hoping to lighten up his mood a bit with the drink. "When this is all over I'm gonna divorce the bitch and then kick her out of my damn house that's for sure, no way in hell am I gonna live with the whore all my life. Screw that!", he took another swig of sake once again.

"All right that's the Inuyasha I know, never to let anyone push him around man or woman", Miroku hollered, slighty impacted by the sake.

Inuyasha smirked, although it held no feeling of joy behind it. He definately didn't feel like celebrating.

"Can't believe you had to suffer through all of that my good friend. Next time please count me in on your little plans", Miroku insisted.

Inuyasha shrugged, "It's not like I didn't want to... it's just that...well"

"I know, I Know. She wouldn't let you and you had no choice"

Inuyasha snorted, "Who could blame me you should really take a good look at her"

"Why, what does she look like?"

"Well let's just say she's not as pretty as her father had boasted, she's lazy, and does nothing all day,...just I don't even know what she does with her time."

"Esh, that's no good. Well I can't blame you , you were conned into marrying someone false. No wonder you didn't look happy whenever I saw you around"

"Wanna hear the worst part Miroku"

"I thought everything you told me was the worst part, what else is there?"

"Well just before I left we had this really heated argument. She claimed that I was going away for good and that I was doing it because I had another women somewhere far off. It became so bad to the point where she actually stabbed me an inch...just above my heart, and she mentioned that I was a worthless hanyou that didn't deserve to live". Inuyasha pratically mumbled the rest of the sentence.

It grew silent, the only sounds that filled the room was of the sloshing of sake againts clay jar as Inuyasha downed gulp for gulp as if it were his only life companion.

"She's not worth it my friend. One day you'll find the right one for you and then you will forget this mess ever happended. In fact I bet you anything that you'll never have a reason to look back at your past again. You will see, trust me."

"Keh, Miroku you sound like a bitch! Are you sure the drink isn't affecting your perverted brain. The minute I'm through with Kikyo is the day I give up on all relationships. Never again will I ever make the same mistake, fuck that", he cursed

The Lieutenant sighed, that's it, once the general made up his mind their was no way of changing it. He wished he could offer more help to his good friend, but all he could really do was listen to his problems.

"Miroku what day is it?"

"Pretty close to the last day of the month. Why do you ask?"

Inuyasha groaned, "Shit I 've forgotten that I turn human tomorrow night, then comes my constant torture for three fucken nights. Damnit! Miroku why does life suck?"

Miroku chuckled boyishly, "Well it only sucks my friend when you don't drink enough and let the ecstasy of the drink take effect".

"Damn right!" , Inuyasha took another swig of his sweet tasting sake.

It wasn't long before everyone, except for a few guards, were asleep. The camp was silent, save for the ocassional snores coming from each of the group tents.

"Kilala keep a good eye out , these woods give me the creeps. Who knows what may really be out there", the demon slayer informed the two-tailed, firery demon neko beside her.

"Mew", was the cute, little and innocent demon's reply. She may look like a house cat for the moment, but come battle time her true form was alot more fiercesome.

It was eerily quiet in the woods tonight, not even a single cricket chirped or an owl hooted. "Let's go get some rest Kilala, maybe its my imagination getting to me, but im sure there's nothing out there that can harm us.", she stated before looking back once more out towards the woods. 'At least...I hope so'.

It was already daybreak and everyone was waking up and eating a simple breakfast. Soon after, the hanyou general assembled his army to move out and their journey towards Magaskai town began once more.

" I can't believe we have to take orders from a half-breed like him", whispered the same man with a bulging belly towards the one riding next to him. "Quiet you fool! Have some respect towards your superiors, besides he's the best in the land, and i bet he can hear you with those ears of his", a tall youth looked nervously towards the front and noticed the General's ears still in place as if he didn't even notice that they were speaking of him.

Inuyasha heard everything, but cared little of what they thought. As long as they obeyed his orders, he didn't care what they thought of him. ' They can all rot in hell', the General thought bitterly, ' And I'll make sure that they go through it in training one we reach the damn town'.

The day dragged on as they journeyed, only stopping once to feed the horses and to have lunch. The forest that they were travelling through was enormous, and thick with shrubbery. It all looked so enchanting and the smell of cleanliness was in the air, unlike in the city were he spent most of his life in; filled with smoke and toxins from the new steam engined trains, that had invaded their country with its new wave of transportaion, produced. Inuyasha hated it, epecially since his sensitive nose was prone to become clogged whenever he went near the train station.

A gentle breeze blew by, stirring all of the vegetaion with its light feathery touch. The general's long, silvered mane tossed gently and then settled back on his shoulders once more when the breeze blew by. 'Damn how I wish I could just forget everything in life and just be like the wind, to fly forever.' He shook his head mentally and replaced his slightly gentle features with a scowl when he realized the foolishness of his thinking.

He was twenty three now, and was no longer a child that once had to learn the very hard way what it meant to be a half-breed. And it was a very hard way indeed. Quickly forgetting the depressing memories of his past, he once again became the man known today. A man filled with pride and responsibility, with no room for childish games. He sighed as he let the temptation of running through the woods freely, while his mane blew behind him, dissapear, and turned his attention to his two childhood best friends.

At a young age of twelve he had come to know the two . Being lonely for a vast amount of time, and then suddenly have two good people come into his life didn't seem all that bad. But he did suffer alot though.

Miroku, with a perverted mind since he was pratically born befriended him one day when he was getting beat up in an alley. Hearing his muffled sobs and whines, Miroku rushed in and beat the crap out of the three teenager that picked on the silver haired hanyou. Since then they've been inseperatable.

Sango joined in on the small group when she moved next door right next door to the pervert. She was trained as a skilled fighter since day one, and had proven it when she nearly beaten the pervert to a pulp. Not that he didn't deserve it though, he pratically groped her when she was polishing her favourite boomerang weapon, made out of the bones of some deceased demon her father had killed.

Since then the three of them just grew up together, and Inuyasha slowly watched from the sidelines as his two best friends fell in love day by day.

He remebered very well how he had fallen for the fair haired brunette and had wanted to ask her on a date. But then something happened that made him chicken out. She had made a special lunch for Miroku because she was worried when she had found out that he was sick with a fever. At that moment Inuyasha had almost made the mistake into letting her know his feelings for her. They weren't the feelings that made him desperatley insane with love, that he didn't know what he was doing. No they were the feelings that said 'together we can be happy', as a good friend would feel for another. Not the love he'd been really hoping for. But then again it was a good feeling beacause it didn't really hurt when he'd discovered that the two of them hit it off so well, as odd as it may seem between the two of them at times.

He didn't care so long as they were happy, he was happy for them in return. Inuyasha was deep in thought as he heard Sango laugh at some joke Miroku had made. 'Yes I am glad...for the both of them'.

"A Demon!!", one of the soldiers had inevitably yelled, breaking Inuyasha's train of thought.

"Run for your lives, the rumours are true!!."

"Demon's!!"

Inuyasha's horse neighed and raised it's two front hooves into the air. "Whoa there boy. Steady now", Inuyasha ordered as he tried to calm the animal down.

His soldiers were scattering in all areas, and many were running off as if they had gone insane with fear. Were they not soldiers, trained to accept fear and all other types of negative aspects such as death?

"Men stand your ground, gather into groups and prepare to attack!", Inuyasha yelled hoarsely abbove all the screaming and shouting of the frightened men.

His orders were barked out, but a few had enough wits in their brain to actually stop and form into small groups againts the oncoming demons that were surrounding them and attacking the soldiers.

"Wolves", Inuyasha spat with furry as a large group of savage looking men bursted out from behind the bushes and began to advance on all the troops.

"Hirarikotsu!", Sango yelled from behind as her giant boomerang weapon flew towards two of the wolves that almost advanced on Inuyasha.

"I owe you Sango", Inuyasha hollered as he leaped off his stallion and prepared himself for battle.

"Think nothing of it General. These are wolf demons they will not be easy to take down", Sango replied as she right kicked at a demon with short, spiky hair. The demon yelped and ran off into the woods realizing he was no match for the female demon slayer.

"Men get together and attack", Inuyasha yelled fiercely at a few scattering soldiers who were then suddenly struck down in an instant.

He then felt a hard blow to the head from behind and fell to the ground, knocking the wind out of him.

"Get out of our forest you city leeches", a strong, deep masculine voice sneered in disgust.

Inuyasha shook his head to clear the black spots that were dancing in front of his eyes. He then unsheathed his sword, Tetsuiga, a great fang produced by one of the fangs from his long, deceased father. At first look it only seemed like a rusty, old sword, but when it transformed it was a powerful, glowing blade of death. Ionly transformed when someone needed his aid, and at the moment his fellow men were in serious trouble. Not that they needed his help, but still they were his men and he'd be damned if their general didn't fight for their victory. With that in mind Inuyasha charged at one of the nearest wolves. Upon looking at the demon that was charginf at him , the wolf then took off into the forest. The hanyou took off at a fast pace, too fast for any of his men to keep up with. He could hear their voices far behind him , but he was so dead on catching this one wolf that tried to get away from him. Even at a distance he could hear the slight jingling noise of Miroku's staff, as he tried to pursue after his long time friend and General in command.

Inuyasha pursued the wolf demon till he was cornered at the edge of a cliff.

Smirking, the hanyou advanced towards the cowardly wolf, "Running out of places to hide?".

The wolf demon gave a growling sneer in return, "Your kind are not welcomed into this forest. Half-Breed".

"Spare me with your lecturing", Inuyasha spat as he dashed forward in a quick flash.

The wolf demon jumped out of the way and landed a kick on the General's chin.

Inuyasha shook his head to clear his vision. 'Damn it not now! Why do I have to start becoming so weak now? Damn it all'.

Landing a punsh on the wolf demons chest , the wolf turned and growled, " Damn you half- breed, I didn't wanna kill you but you leave me no choice now!", The wolf darted foward and slashed at Inuyasha's side. The hanyou let out a small yelp as pain shot through his side where the wolf had cut the side of his stomach. Letting out a low breath, Inuyasha jumped up and brought down his sword on the demon's arm, completely slicing it off whole. Screaming out in pain, the wolf formed a small ball of fire from his still exsisting arm and threw it againts the hanyou general. Having little effect againts the strong hanyou, he leapt up once more with his sword, but another wolf shot out from the bushes, kicking his sword out of his hands. The sword landed with a clattering bang and transformed back into its rusty form.

Three other wolf demons shot out from the cocealed bushes and advanced onto the silver haired general. Inuyasha acted quickly and leapt from his spot, when he landed he did a short roll where he picked up his sword in the prospect. But before he was on his feet again one of the wolves landed a kick on his chest and he was sent flying through the air. He hit the ground hard once and rolled towards the edge of the cliff, with one hand shooting out towards the edge, he caught it just in time before he completely fell down towards his death.

"Let's finish him off quickly. Just look at what he did to my hand, that bastard will pay dearly with his life", the wolf demon growled as he clutched his bleeding shoulder.

"Stop don't you dare try anything rash or we'll kill you", Miroku yelled as Sango and a number of men jumped out from the thick bushes.

The wolves ignored the weak humans advancing upon them. The wolf demon with the bleeding arm rushed foward and slammed his heel againts the hanyou's fingers, which were barely clutching the edge of the cliff.

"Stop. Nooo!" Miroku and the rest of the troops rushed forward in attack againts the demon wolves.

The demon with the bleeding arm stomped hard once more on the hanyou's fingers as everyone became engaged in battle. All of a sudden a splntering crack echoed through the air and the cliff that Inuyasha was so desperately hanging onto crumbled under the wolf's feet.

"Noo. Inuyasha. Inuyasha!!"., Sango and Miroku yelled after their best friend.

But it was too late for both he and one of the demon wolves had fallen off the immensely steep cliff, towards their deaths.

Youll pay for this, Miroku yelled with bitter anger, while Sango sobbed uncontollably beside him. I swear you will, were his last words as the humans egaged in battle againts the remaining wolves that had taken their best friends life.

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All right people Babydragon is in the house now. I finally had enough money to actually buy a laptop all to myself, so now I can finally post all my hard written work (a little over three years of constantly writing Inuyasha fanfction in notebooks---sad as it may seem----but i do love the anime series so much). and!!! finally i will be able to tell the world my stories. it will take me forever, but im gonna do it for all the wonderful fans out there to read. First of all id love to thank God for my love of writing, then my mamma for always buying me notebooks even though she had no clue i was writing inuyasha fanfiction. she thought it was for school. and finally to the future fans who will be reading my stories soon. and last Rumiko Takahashi,, luck her she owns Inuyasha and co. but thats okay cause i own my imagination.

so have fun and review all you lovely people. till next time.

Blessings.

Babydragon


	2. Stranger on forbidden grounds

A/N: Hi hi !! Its Babydragon (tiny me) this is my second chapter and i hope you wonderful fans are enjoying the story thus so far. I won't give away too much in this story considering some of you may be curious from the last one. Well I'll stop talking now and get on with the story. Too-dle-loo!

Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi...won't you please share Inuyasha with me? please please? He belongs to the world and all of the crazy, insane fans, (like myself).

Rumiko: who are you crazy child ...guards!

me: aaah.. guess that's a no no then.

CHAPTER 2: STRANGER ON FORBIDDEN GROUNDS

The battle was over and many lives were lost, especially the life of the well known General West. Miroku was silent after the small ceremony was over, while Sango dried the last of her tears on a napkin over their lost childhood friend.

"Miroku I don't want to believe that he is gone, please...tell me he's still alive. Maybe he did survive the fall and he needs our help", she sobbed into her companion's chest.

"It's all right Sango. Shh.. you musn't cry like this he wouldn't of wanted that from you".

"Yes I know, but he was always there for us whenever we needed him. How could he... how could he... and now", she trailed off.

" I understand", Miroku whispered as he held her frame close to his body. His hand didn't twitch as it normally would when he was feeling perverted. No not today, no lecherous thought for this day, it was a day of honour towards their dearly departed friend. "There was no chance for him to have survived the fall, not when he was so close to his human form tonight. There would of been no chance, no chance at all", he tried to convince himself, although deep down he felt the need to really look at the results himself, but there was no way they could travel down the steep cliff. It would take days just to go around it safely, and time was not on their side, due to the emperor's request in their immediate search for gold.

"I'm sorry...let's be on our way now Sango".

The demon slayer nodded, not fully trusting her voice yet to speak without it faltering with sadness. She took one last glimpse at the small pillar with three incense sticks protruding form the dirt mound; its smoke gently drifting in the wind. Taking one last ragged breath, she turned back toward where Miroku was currently waiting for her to catch up. 'Goodbye Inuyasha'.

Back at camp Miroku barked out orders furiously, pain still noticeable in his voice as he strained to hide it. He was dissapointed with the select troops the emperor had himself chosen. Many of them were nothing but cowards, that had ran off in the face of danger, leaving their commanding superior without protection. Because of their fatal decisions their General was now dead, twelve soldiers killed, ten injured and of the enemy only three were slain. Many of the wolf demons had quickly come in and attacked their group and then just run off, as if only to give them a good scare. Well it didn't matter now, they still had to keep moving and arrive towards Magasaki town as soon as possible.

" Let' leave quickly, it's too dangerous to camp here for the night. The wolf demons may come back with more back up at any minute. Move out", he yelled.

The men quickly mounted their horses, save for the injured ones which had to be carried on stretchers and quickly left the area.

"Good bye my childhood friend", Miroku whispered silently before he mounted his horse and left camp with the rest of the troops.

A clawed hand shot out of the water and grabbed onto the ledge that formed along the river. A hanyou wearing a red haori doubled over and started coughing up the water that had entered into his lungs upon impact. When he could finally breath normally he stood up and inspected his surrounding areas. He noticed that the wolf demon, the one who's hand he had cut off earlier, was sprawled againts the ground with a huge boulder on top of his body, squishing his body flat amongst the rocks. His head was split open while his own blood and juices gushed out, forming its own little river and joining up with the crystal clear water, where it was washed away.

"Guess he wasn't so lucky", he mumbled under his breath.

'Shit! where am I now?. He looked up towards where he had fallen. It was a long ways up, but maybe he could just make it before his demon powers were completely gone. He started clawing his way up only to fall unceremoniously on his behind. "Damn it all", he hollered to no one in particular. Getting up furiously he attempted to climb the cliff once more only to slide down the base once more. "Fuck it, you damn, stupid!...urg!" he screamed out in frustration. His youkai blood was ebbing rapidly and he couldn't gather enough power to jump up the steep cliff.

As night fall approached quickly, 'too quickly', he thought, and he needed to find shelter soon in the eerie forest. If he didn't then his life would be in danger, considering his ebbing jayaki would attrack unwanted attention, and he would not be able to hold out.

Not in his human form.

Not when his curse would last for three nights straight.

With a depressing sigh he crossed the river and went in search of a place to camp for the night. In the woods.

His friends and men are probably making their way towards Magasaki town, without a clue if he is alive or not. Who could blame them? After all his powers were starting to fade, they're pobably even thinking that he didn't even make the fall. He let his nostrils flare in an annoyed manner, 'Pathetic, they should know me better than that. No fall could ever stop me.'

After he had reached the other side of the river he stepped out and shook himself such as a dog would, and sent water droplets flying in all directions. Walking straight into the forest he started pondering on such thoughts as to how to get out of the vastly, dense forest. 'If I know my skills, from all of my training in the emperial army, I should be able to get out of this blasted forest. Now which way towards Magasaki town?' After a minute of thinking he shrugged his shoulders and headed off into a direction that his gut told him was good.

It wasn't long before the sun had completely dissapeared from behind the mountains, and night was brought forth in a black veil of darkness.

The stars twinkled above him, while the fireflies surrounding him danced playfully in circles and intricate patterns.

His body glowed for a mere second as a heart beat echoed within his very inner core, then two, and suddenly his vision dimmed and ears dissapeared to either side of his head. His nails shrunk and hair turned to a pitch, midnight colour. 'Great! Just my luck! Here I am in the middle of this forest vulnerable, and defenseless, and this stupid sword is just as useless as I am', he snorted as he tucked Tetsuiga back into the sheath beside his waist.

"Well you're not entirely useless Tetsuiga, at least you bring me some comfort on these lonely nights", he mumbled .

It finally got to the point to where Inuyasha could no longer see the path in front of him clearly, that he was stumbling over roots and crashing into thick branches, so he decided to lean againts a large, smooth tree. It wasn't much shelter, but it was better than tripping all over the place. He closed his eyes for a moment, hoping he wouldn't fall asleep, even though he was dead tired from the day's events.

All of a sudden he heard a twig snap a couple of meters away from where he was sitting. He stiffened in his posture and his weak, diluted eyes scanned the area around him. He didn't hear anything else further so he leaned back slightly againts the tree, his posture ready to spring up into action if anything dared attack him.

There were no other sounds for the rest of the night, except for that of the nocturnal creatures of the night, but he still didn't even dare to allow sleep to comfort him as a friend. Instead his calloused hands clutched his father's sword fiercely againts his chest. His hands felt numb, and legs cramped, and he began to shiver uncontrollably; due to the fear that had settled on him, and because of the chilly night air. He could of built a fire, he knew how to do that from his training in the army, but he didn't dare. Not when it could attract the attention of anything that might of been out there.

'Stupid weak humans, stupid weak body', he sighed,' And this is just the first night, I can't believe I have to be a fucken weak mortal for another two blasted nights'.

'Mother, father, why couldn't you just have killed me at my birth? Why'd you even bother letting me live if I'm such a disgrace? No one even wants to be with a half-breed like me. Will I ever find someone who would care for me just as I am, or will I die lonely?', he asked himself all these questions, but there was no one to answer them for him. At that moment he never felt more alone in all of his entire life. It felt terribly depressing, and he suddenly wished that a demon would come a do away with his life, the way his parents should of done so long ago at his birth. 'If a demon does attack me I don't have a chance in hell of surviving anyways'. He then looked up towards the sky and counted all the stars that came into is view. He was in such awe at how brightly they shined out here in the forests, unlike back home where it was hard to even see them as paper lanterns and torches lined the streets.

'If only my parents could see this, just like we use to at night when I was much younger'. He remembered the sad day when his father, a well respected and high ranking general, who sacraficed his life for the country in the great war. Inuyasha could still remember how amazing his father was and could never compare himself with any aspect that his father had achieved. Many mourned for his death thereafter, and many still do remember him after all these years, but most of all his death had greatly affected his mother. his beautiful, loving mother had taken the death pretty badly, and she became prone to illness that she had died a year after his father's funeral.

After that he was all alone.

He had run away from his once known home filled with love, and comfort when he had heard that one of the people wanted to send him to a far away home. Being so young and scared, he just left and never returned to the place.

He then spent three years on the streets byhimsself, stealing food whenever he could, sleeping in places that offered little warmth. It was only after the third year that he became prone to illness, considering he was weak with hunger and wary with little sleep. The entire city had become blanketed with snow, during the night, which made his conditions even worse and he ran a high fever, which was abnormal for a person with even a little amount of youkai blood in his system. Feeling cold, and dizzy he just crawled into a box, that smelled strongly of fish and seawater, but he didn't care so long as it was dry. After pulling a filthy looking rice sack, covered in holes and dirt,over his body he instantly just fell asleep. He shivered the day away, without any energy at all to go and scavenger for food, and he kept falling into a pitch black state of unconciousness during the night, haunted by vivid nightmares and spooks. On the third day, having gone without food for so long, he knew he was going to die. He felt it in his being that he could no longer go on, and had given up on the chance of living during the night before. With that last thought he awaited for his mother and father to come and get him from the after life and willed his body to die faster, so he wouldn't feel any drastic pain like he had faced in life. It was a strange feeling that had washed over him as he felt an all familiar scent near his little shelter. As the person drew even closer, all Inuyasha could think was I'm finally going home. "Papa", he whispered before he lost conciousness once more.

It was about two days later that he had enough strength in him once more to finally open his eyes. His golden coloured eyes widened at the sight of all the wonderfully coloured packages of treats and desserts tha surrounded him like a tiny mountain of treasures. Afraid that someone might have mistaken him for another, or that it was actually a dream, he began to tear open the packages and devour all the treats before him.

"Slow down Inuyasha, you may just choke on something".

He went ridgid and turned his eyes towards the person who had spoken to him.

Sitting in a chair was a tall man, with demon like features, and a furry cloak wrapped over one of his shoulders. Joy and happiness had washed over him in an instant like a wave and he bounded out from under the covers, rushing towards the man. "Dad!", the eight year old cried out in sheer joy. A wave of dizziness hit him as his vision blurred. He spun uncontrollably and fell, only to be caught by a pair of strong hands."Daddy...ith it weally you", the child spoke out hopefully. He felt the man stiffen and Inuyasha gulped as he examined his characteristics carefully. He had the same coloured eyes as him, similar facial features as him, but alas he was far from being his beloved father.

"I am Sesshomaru, your older brother", he replied gently. "You were supposed to come to me long ago, but I was later informed that you had run away."

Inuyasha's young eyes had widened. "I neva knew...I had an olda bwutha", he stated innocently.

"Nor did this Sesshomaru know he had a little brother", he replied as he tucked his next of kin back into the bed. After making sure he was comftorable enough, Sesshomaru raised up from the bed and proceeded to head out the door, until he stopped in his tracks and said, "Make sure you rest yourself and eat plenty so your strength can return. We shall speak on this subject some more afterwards", and with that he left the his younger sibling to do with as he pleased on the oversized, comftorable bed.

Without being told twice, Inuyasha then began to reach for the nearest treats that his little hands could grab and began to stuff himself of everything.

From then on his life wasn't too shabby, sure he did have his moments in which he wished he could be with his loving mother and father still. But his older brother Sesshomaru wasn't too bad, he did have his sullen moods and cold shoulders, but with a little sugar, which Inuyasha inevitably discovered he had some fetish for, he didn't turn out to be such a bad guy. He could almost be quiet alot of fun in fact, which was truly rare for a respectable and stern businessman such as himself.

The man only let his guard down when he needed to relieve his stress, and believe it or not, his favourite passtime was to actually pick on the elderly seniors. Especially this one old man, that resembled a giant flea, named Myouga, whom was Inuyasha's personal tutor.

As Inuyasha matured and grew into a teenager he met his good friends Miroku and Sango. He then signed up for the imperial army at fifteen, and quickly got promoted to many ranks, until finally he was ranked as commanding general for the private imperial army of the emperor.

His father was once the commanding General for the emperor's army long ago, but he was much better and more respected. Inuyasha envied him, that's why he worked hard to get to where he was, not to mention that he owned many fine lands in the West and had a great home to call his own, all through the many years of hard work. And due to his brother's great status.

But all of it didn't seem to have mattered to Inuyasha for he had no inheritance to pass it down. What was even a blow to the pride was that his cold, stoic brother was even married to a women already, and a human one at that. This cute, energetic brunette by the name of Rin, that pratically did anything, and I mean anything, to please the cocky bastard.

He was the lucky one after all, and it seemed that fate was againts Inuyasha. But that was okay, 'So long as everyone around me is happy...then I'm okay.', he thought as he feel into a deep slumber he didn't realize that had taken a hold of him, as he listened to the crickets chirp in the thicket, and the owls hoot amongts the tree branches.

He had woken up with an abrupt start when he felt the rays of the sun gently caress his face the next dawn. 'Shit! I fell asleep. Damnit, I am one lucky bastard that nothing attacked me during the night.', he mused as he stretched out his sore body from having slept so uncomftorably during the night.

'Now time to find a way out of this blasted forest. I don't even want to think about spending another night out here vulnerable like this'.

It was half past noon when Inuyasha heard his stomach growl loudly. He was startled at first at how loud the sound rang throughout the strangely, quiet forest. He tried to ignore his body's request for food as long as he could, but the noise kept irritating him, so he couldn't quiet ignore it completely. His first thought was to hunt down some prey, but with his diluted senses it would probably take the entire day to track anything down, that and he hadn't even seen a rabbit once all day. He kept walking hoping to find something edible to eat until he ran straight into a plum tree. The tree had some plums that looked decent enough to eat, and were right for the picking. Taking the nearest branch, he began to furiously shake the tree, which allowed a good amount of plums to fall off. After collecting a handfull of ripe ones, he sat down onto a patch of grass and began devouring them hungrily. He made a face when he realized that they may have looked ripe, they were definately not so very sweet tasting as he expected them to be. After fiishing off the last of the sour fruit, he got up and began his journey through the forest once more.

"Damn this stupid forest", Inuyasha yelled as he hacked at a couple of leaves that had smacked right back at his face. It was well into the afternoon and he was nowhere near anything that looked like an exit. His stomach growled again, but it seemed even more louder this time."Stupid body! Can't you tell that I just can't feed you right now", he glared at his well sculpted lower body, as if it were the cause to all of his problems. With a huff, he then kept walking rapidly through the thick bushes, sending branches flying in all directions. He felt so pissed that he didn't notice his surroundings too well, and the next moment he found himself flying forward. He landed hard on the ground, knocking the wind out of him a bit. With a fierce glare he looked behind him at the log, which had caused him to trip, "Stupid log", he yelled. After dusting himself, he began to stomp his way through the thicket , that had been driving him insane all day. After finally having enough with all the blasted vegetation in his sight, he took out his rusty, dull blade and started hacking at everything in his way.

When he'd been at it for a good, long while he bent over, huffing, trying to catch his breath. 'This is just not my day', he thought sourly. After catching his breath, he noticed that he could hear the rushing sound of what seemed like water just a couple of meters away. He was terribly thirsty and he could use a good rest for the moment, he decided as he made his way towards the river stream. There was a giant branch that obstructed his line of vision, and when he lifted it up he stopped dead in his tracks, while his heart started pounding furiously.

On a giant, flat rock near the river's edge sat a lone figure. As he took another step closer he noticed that it was a female, but he wasn't so sure if she was demon or not. She wore a long,white pelt, made out of the mane of a some kind of animal he wasn't so sure of. Her face was covered by what seemed like a mask, with sparkling eyes, hiding only her real eyes, while showing her mouth and chin. Upon closer inspection, Inuyasha felt himself slightly aroused at what the female was wearing. A short, white skirt that ended mid-thigh, showing off her long, smooth and creamy looking legs. While her top was short-sleeved and had a slight cut in the middle to show a decent amount of cleavage, not indecent, but enough to draw any man's attention, while it ended a bit past her breasts; exposing her flawless, and toned stomach. The female was definately captivating, and with a killer looking body to boot. The first thought that ran through Inuyasha's mind was that she was probably one of the legendary 'Amazonian women' he had heard tales about. But from who again?

'No doubt in mind, she could easily be one of them. Which means she probably knows her way out of this forest', he thought as he took one more step closer, with caution, noting the fact that she held a dangerous spear in her hands, and he wasn't so sure if his presence was welcomed or not?

After a minute had passed, she lifted up the spear towards her mouth and cut the leather rope, she was using to bind the object with, with her sharp fangs.

Inuyasha gulped, 'Do Amazonian women have fangs? Or is this part of their traits to scare off humans? I think I'm in trouble, I don't exactly quiet remember too well, but I think they are supposed to be fiercesome fighters'.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face, and under his chin, falling instantly towards the forest floor. 'I'll take my chances. Better than being lost here in the forest', he assured himself as he took another step towards the girl.

"Excuse me there", Inuyasha indicated in a voice loud enough to catch her attention.

The girl didn't seem to notice, but instead kept her concentration on the weapon that she was fixing.

" Hey there girl. You. Can you tell me how to get out of here, I need to go to Magasaki town. Do you know in which direction it is?''

She still continued to ignore him. As if he didn't exist at all.

" I said can you tell me how to get out of here", he took another daring step closer.

'Stupid girl is she deaf?. Beautiful or not I don't like her attitude', he snorted.

" Hey women! I said can you tell me how to get the hell out of this damn...ah!", Inuyasha gasped as the spear she had been fixing came flying towards him.

It landed right in between his legs, grazing the side of his pants, and very much missing his...manhood.

She threw it carelessly, without even looking in his direction. Once that was out of the way she picked up the rest of her spears into a bundle and bounded off towards the forest.

Inuyasha watched in awe as her slender figure, leapt out of his sight.

"Hey what the hell is your problem come back here", he yelled fiercely. "Stupid wench".

He wanted to run after her, but when he tried to move he noticed his pants were pinned down to the forest floor with the point of the spear. After tugging the spear free from the ground he lifted it up for closer inspection, and was taken back when he saw a deadly, black and yellow stripped tarantula, carelessly twitching.

'Either that girl has very good aim and just saved my life, or she really meant to do me harm and the spider just got in the way', he gulped hard. A sudden realization hit him, and he shook hinself voilently. With a sigh, he realized that there were no more spiders on him, and with that thought he relaxed somewhat.

'Now with this problem of getting out of here. I could probably use this weapon in the meantime for protection, and perhaps for hunting,' he allowed a smirk to make it's way in one of the corners of his mouth. 'Guess that girl wasn't so useless after all'.

Okay people the second chapter is done now, and forgive me if there are mistakes for it is almost five in the morning and im dead tired now. But alas my passion for writing has kept me awake long enough to finish this chapter. Oh and the love for my fans and not to mention...the candy im currently consuming at the moment to stay awake. I just have one request from you all though, and please dont hate me for such a request, but i need to know if people are enjoying my story and i need some criticism... so please before i can post up the next chapter i need at least three different types of reviews (they can even be fromthe same person stating different things) but please i need at least 3 reviews for me to continue witht the way im writing. please please please. they dont even have to be long ..just six to seven words even... anyways must go to sleep now. im so sleepy and im making too many errors.

well till next time.

Blessings

Babydragon


	3. A way out

A/N: Hi Hi it's me again!! Just wanted to comment on some latest reviews I've recieved so far.

Snowecat: (heheh) opps..well yeah i realize i shoulda just used spider youkai...guess i was just thinking turantula after i saw that weird movie 'Eight legged freaks'. and Amazonian women is not a native term used is Japan , but i got the idea from reading Ranma 1/2, Shampoo's one from china and well although my setting is somewhere in Japan, Inuyasha only thinks the girl is Amazonian for a reason, i'll explain later in the next chapter. Dont wanna give too much away yet. (hehehe). Thanx for reviewing means alot to me.

Scarlet lover: you're so sweet!!! thankx. im glad i thought my first fic would of been boring ...but now im happy and for that here's the new chappie. Enjoy!!

Disclaimer: I own Inuyasha...well the plush toy, key chains and movies that I bought with my birthday money. But otherwise Inuyasha, the real him, belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. sigh...(keep dreaming Babydragon)

Chapter 3------ A way out.

" I'm sorry princess please forgive us", a wolf demon with bushy, untamed haired whimpered as another smack met with his head. He winced at the impact, "Please have mercy we didn't know it would cause so much problems". The princess sighed and paced around the room nervously, " Now there is one of them in my forests and soon there will be many more out there in search for for him. Just what is the wolf clan thinking? Your sworn duty is to protect my people. Not endanger us all!", she yelled fiercely, bringing down her staff hard againts the polished, bamboo floor.

An hollow echo resounded in the still and apprehensive air, and a small indent had formed in the spot where she had brought down her staff on.

"Y-y-yes my p-princess, but you see there was a large group of men, an army perhaps, passing through very close to the village, and we couldn't let them near...so we tried to... stop...them", he winced when he imagined another blow from her staff coming.

But instead she shook her head in dissapointment.

"Do not lie to me for I can smell the fowl, intoxicating scent of your deception clearly from here. You wolves are aggressive and take thrill in the hunt for man's flesh. Truthfully it is very disgusting and dishonorable towards our way's and I will not have any of this nonsense from the wolves. Now bring me Prince Kouga of the demon wolf clan immediantly!".

"Y-yes my princess I shall fetch him at once", the wolf demon clambered out quickly and tripped on his way out of the large hut, and went flying straight into the tall grass.

The princess sighed when she saw the wolf demon act like a fool.

A warm hearted chuckle disturbed her from her gloomy thoughts and she turned to the elderly lady beside her.

"Princess ye should of not been so rough with him, he is only one pf their messengers".

"Yes I know my Lady, but if you do not put fear into those wolves they shall just walk all over us and make fools put of us. Besides they are ruthless and can handle pain quiet well", she shook her head.

The lady was about to respond when the bamboo reed that covered the hut's front entrance was lifted and a tall, strong looking wolf demon, with piercing grey eyes, and his jet balck hair done into a ponytail entered through the doorway.

"Did someone of gracious beauty send for me?", a cocky smirk played dangerously on his handsome face.

"Kouga you filthy mongrel was it you that made the order for your wolves to attack one of the city people's armies?", the princess snapped.

"My dear,dear Princesss calm yourself. It wasn't me who had ordered that attack you know very well that I wouldn't do that. It must've been one of our neighbouring tribes that did it. But you know how they are, they are wolves and they gotta feed" he shrugged carelessly.

"Yes, but are you not their leader? Do you not set the same set of rules as you do with your own tribe, or is your control limited?", she stated firmly.

Kouga felt humiliated and he did not like it one bit, " Of course I have control over my own wolves. But we are wild and untamed like the wind, and if they feel like a good hunt then why stop them. Besides those humans, from what I heard, were pretty darn near the village and it's a good thing they were driven off in time.".

"That is enough Kouga of the wolf clan! If I ever hear again that you or any one of your wolves have attacked the city people without cause, I will personally kick you all out my forests! Is that understood?", she growled.

Kouga gulped, knowing that she alone had enough strength to do alot of harm, not even including what the people of this village could do. "Yes my princess'', he bowed meekly, not wanting to enrage her further. But he couldn't help saying what he wanted her to keep in mind for the next couple of days.

So he smirked playfully.

"Don't forget my princess that in one week's time...you and I shall be having our little battle".

The princess pursed her lips "Well then I suggest you go and train then,".

Kouga huffed, not exactly the answer he was looking for but it would have to do. Just before he left he had one more question that he was curious to ask.

"And what about the one that is in 'your forests', what are you going to do with him", Kouga smirked, hoping that she would allow the wolf clan to do just whatever to him. Personally, he could make a tasty meal.

"Well, considering you wolves will obviously can not handle the situation properly. I will just have to lead him out of the forests myself."

Kouga snorted, "Fine, do as you please. But I'm telling you that you're making a mistake princess", he huffed as he let the bamboo covering swinging for a couple seconds when he left hastily.

"Urgh!", the princess raged under her breath. "That infurriating wolf!".

"Do not fret my princess, he is only acting so because he is nervous about the battle. Besides ye knows very well that he has had his eyes on ye since ye was a tiny child."

"Yes I know my lady but he just makes my blood boil. I will make sure he does not win during our battle, otherwise who knows what types of foolishness he shall bring to our humble village".

"Many of the elders think the opposite, they say he is a great assest to our village".

The princess shook her head furiously."No. No. No, I shall never want a man such as him to be my champion. Ever. He just does not understand who I am. Besides he is power hungry and a lazy ruler. Think of how his leadership will affect the people of this village. I can not even bare it! I may not be able to turn down the battle, but that most certainly will not mean I shall lose.", she nodded in determination.

"Oh child, sometimes I worry for you. It is not proper for such a young lassie as yourself to train so hard as a man would. Maybe it would of been best of ye would of really been born as a dragonfly. Then ye would always be graceful and beautiful."

The princess giggled, " My lady do not tease. I love what I do and if I did not train properlly then I would have no honour bearing my father's title for the time being. The title would of been Souta's and he is a lost cause for he is even too shy to make speech anouncements, let alone speak to the elders."

"Yes ye does have a point. And don't ye forget he is better at hunting than solving problems with his head", the elderly lady chuckled. "Now off ye towards home, and do not ye forget to take off the pellet. For it needs a brushing", she shooed the princess away.

"Aw!, but Lady Kaede, I need my pellet to keep me in comfort as I go off into the forest to aid the lost city stranger".

The Lady rolled her eyes,"All right, but ye shall take it off as soon as ye comes back. It is starting to tangle with leaves, and who knows what other things, does ye hear me'', Lady Kaede yelled after the princess that was already running off faster than Kaede could finish her sentence.

The Lady sighed, "Well I tried, wait till she starts finding bugs in that pellet of hers. Then she shall come running to me for a brushing".

"Fuck!", the hanyou bellowed for the tenth time in the evening. He was just having no luck fishing with the damned spear. He tried catching them at first, but the things were as slippery as soap. Then he tried using the spear, that was no help either because his aim was horrible.

'Damnit if only I had my claws. Then fishing would be alot easier', he thought miserablly as his stomach growled once more, even louder than it had a couple of minutes before.

He was tired, hungry, miserable, and frustrated. But hey, the water had at least gotten him clean , so he wasn't too worried about stinking now. At least he wouldn't be able to say that he had attracted a demon because of his stench.

After finally settling down on the forest floor, and setting his Tetsuiga and spear nect to him, he leaned back againts a log. After a moment he yawned loudly, and felt his eyelids begin to grow heavy. He shook his head voilently and scolded himself for even thinking of sleep, ' I was lucky to tempt fate for one night, but I won't risk it a second time'.

He fought an inner battle, and one at which he was loosing horribly.

Pretty soon he began to feel the grass underneath him soft and comforting, and let his eyes close.Thinking that he would probably hear something approach anyways, and that he would wake the moment it neared.

The next morning Inuyasha woke with an abrupt, clearly startled and confused.

He thought that he had heard light footsteps and a tree rustling nearby.

He then knew he was definately not imagining it when he noticed two large bundles made out of very rich, deep green set of leaves. The design very interesting was very interesting like a beautifully weaved basket of leaves.

' A gift...but from who?'

He shrugged when he decided it didn't really matter at the moment, he was even more curious as to what was inside the bundles.

His eyes widened as big as saucers, while his mouth began to drool uncontrollaby when he saw the surprise hidden in the first big bundle.

Deliciously, fresh cooked rice with a grilled fish on top, covered in a rich, creamy sauce.

To his surprise there was even a set of chopsticks with strange indents at the top, and carved from the wood of bamboo, placed right inside the bundle, along with the heavenly food.

Whether it was poison or not? he didn't care. He just dug into the fine food as if it were the last meal of his life.

He almost choked on a couple of fish bones, but it was worth it. The meal was exquisite, and the spices that were used gave it an appetizing feeling, making Inuyasha craving for more. Or was it from the lack of food during these past two days?

Whichever it was he eagerly opened the second bunde hoping that it was something he could eat for he was still terribly hungry.

He almost cried out in happiness when he opened the second bundle.

'Dumplings!'.

The second that thought entered his mind, he had already scarfed one down entirely.

'Who knew I would get such a good meal out here?', he sighed in compete contempt.

'At least I wont starve now', he thought as he licked the juices from his hand where the meat from the potato dumpling had dripped.

He never had such a dumping made so deliciously, he wanted to thank the chef, but as he observed his surroundings carefully, he cursed at his lack of abiity to be abe to sense anybody out as he did in his demon form.

All he could hear with his human ears was the sound of the birds chirpping their early morning clouds, and the buzzing of nearby insects.

'Perhaps it was that gir from yesterday', he thought back to that gorgeous looking girl sitting by the brook yesterday.

She was the ony being he had seen so far, so it was most ikey it was her. There couldn't be anyone else out here...can there?

He shrugged as he placed the rest of the dumplings inside his haori, for later. Because who knew when he would have good food like this again so long as he was stuck in this damn forest.

He got up and stretched his muscles before he bent down to pick up his sword and spear.

He scratched his head in confusion when he noticed the spear placed a little farther than where he had tucked it last night alongside his sword.

Now it was out in the open as if pointing in a direction in which the messenger had wanted him to go.

He had nothing to loose really. It was either trust this person completely or stay in this forest forever.

Picking up the spear, he then decided to take the risk of trusting the unknown messenger. He or she couldn't of been so bad considering they had provided him with a meal already and had decided to let him live, instead of killing him.

By late mid afternoon he was munching on one of the dumplings he had saved, when he noticed an odd sign that had captured his attention.

There was a white ribbon drifting loosely in the wind that was tied to a branch.

He approached the branch and untied the white ribbon carefully, so as not to rip it. With his human nose he took a big inhale of the ribbon, wondering if he could catch some sort of scent on it.

A faint trace of honeysuckle still lingered on it, and one did not have to have an advanced sense of smell to catch it.

His suspicion only grew more now as to who this mysterious person was that was helping him find his way out of the forest. This same person had probably also made that good meal that kept invading his mind all day, as he tried to remember what those spices were that had made it so tasty.

Continuing on his way he soon began to notice that nightfall was beginning to approach once more.

He came upon a giant grove engraved on the side of a willow tree. He thought it was best to camp here for the night considering it was way too late to see anything anyways. Plopping down comftorably on the soft grass that covered the ground inside the willow tree he took out the small bundle of dumplings that he had been slowly munching throughout the day.

He sighed when he realized that there was only one last dumpling left. For some unkown reason he had failed to notice to limit his portion intaking because who knew when he woud come across food again. But he couldn't help it, his human body was hungry from all of the walking throughout the day and he kept eating the food that should of lasted for another day or so. He doubted that the person trying to help him out of the forest woud want to cook another deicious meal for his unworthy ass.

With a feeling that he would regret it later, but didn't care at the moment he ate the last of his dumpling slowly, to savour each bite. Once it was gone he licked the leaf, in which the dumplings were contained in, slowly and greedily. Heck, he even almost ate the leaf itself.

'Hopefully I can get the hell out of here soon so I can get myself three...no four heaping bowls of ramen', he thought as he laid the spear and Tetsuiga to the side. Sitting up in indian stlye position, he leaned againts the tree bark's smooth, innner edge and closed his eyes.

' I've slept as a human these last couple of nights out here in these forests, and I think I've tempted fate long enough to know that I wont die.', with that last thought, he slept with a confident feeling that whoever was out there would also make sure that no harm came to him. 'Because I think this person just...wants...me to live'.

A flash of white crossed the small distance from where she had been patiently waiting in the trees. Waiting for the strange human to fall asleep.

As she landed gracefully, her pellet settled on top of her ravenous locks once more, and she crept slowly towards the overly exhausted human. When she approached closer she studied his features a bit more slowly this time, since this morning she had almost startled him awake with her nervous rustling and she had to dash off quickly before he had spotted her. She noticed that the rude man she had encountered a couple of days ago was different in character when he was sleeping. He had no scowl on his face and he seemed to be at peace, but with an air of sadness which she sensed that surrounded his form.

Gently placing a hand over his cheek she made a small prayer for him so that he would be blessed with luck.

After she had finished she felt him stir slightly under her touch, and she stiffened, her body ready to flee if he were to waken.

Fortunately for her he just moved his head slightly towards her touch, as if silently begging for more of her gentle caress.

She smiled to herself, 'Poor guy, out here all alone, and not one person has yet to come search for him. Has he been abbandoned by his own people? I swear those city people can be just so heartless sometimes'.

After removing her hand from his cheek she searched inside her small bag for the small bundles she had brought. Placing the two large bundles near his head, she then dug into her bag and pulled out an even smaller one that was neatly wrapped in rice paper, and placed it just on top of the larger bundles made out of leaves. With that task done she took the spear that she had first used to kill the spider youkai with, and scare him as well, and placed it's sharp point in the direction towards the cursed town.

'Where that blasted women lives!', she tried not to growl at the thought of her enemy, otherwise the stranger before her might wake. 'I hope this man realizes his mistake and leaves the town of Magasaki as soon as possible', and with that she walked out quietly and bounded into the trees. Where she would rest and wait patiently till he woke the next day, and see to it that he makes it out alive. So far it had been simple enough. There were only small, weak demons that had wanted to feast on the human's flesh, but she had killed them quickly before they even approached him. She would be damned if she let this human die and thus allow Kouga and his wolves smell her failure, making her seem weak. She would be anything but weak, so evenif she had to cook for the human to keep him alive then so be it. As long as he makes it to his destination safely.

'Besides he is not half bad...at least he liked my dumplings'.

It was a couple of hours before dawn when Inuyasha stired from his sleep. He wasn't one to sleep in too late no matter how tired he still felt. It was just a habit of him being able to stir bright and early, even after many years since he hasn't had to from his army training.

After yawning and stretching he touched the side of his face where he had dreamed someone had gently placed their hand on. The touch may of been gentle, but he knew that someone had done it, he could still almost feel the gentleness of the caress. Almost like a whisper in the wind one would understand if they strained to hear it.

When he decided to let the idea of someone touching him last night go, he finally noticed another set of bundles placed near where his head had been. With eagerness he quickly opened one of them already expecting food. He pratically wolfed down the food without breathing when he saw the delicious piece of meat covered in a sauce, on top of freshly cooked rice.

'Man I swear this person can cook', he thought as he finished the rest of the contents in one gulp.

Instead of throwing away the strange set of chopsticks he decided to place them inside his haori for later examination. He felt that today he would be reaching the town, because his demon powers would be returning soon, and would allow him to actually get there faster.

He was curious as to what the other package held, and even more so what the rice paper packaged, wrapped with care, held.

Leaving the mysterious one for last he opened the second bundle of leaves and grinned when he saw more dumplings.

After taking a bite out of one of them he noticed that these ones were different, they had both meat and vegetables.

He didn't mind they were still as tasty as ever.

Finishing the rest off quickly, not caring to even save some for later, he took the last little package and unfolded the corners carefully as to not rip the paper.

Confusion hit him like a brick in the head when he saw the strange looking, dark coloured item. At first he didn't even know why would someone want to give him this in the first place, but then he thought back to how the person had been nothing but generous towards him and he owed this person alot. So questioning the strange object was out of the picture. Inuyasha just had to accept the fact that it woud probably be better if he just shut up and try the weird looking thing.

And if he died or got sick, then so be it. At least he wasn't ungrateful towards the person. He took a cautious sniff at the dark object and noted that it was sweet smelling.

'Oh ta hell with it there's only one way to find out if I have to eat this thing or not', he menatlly berated, as he broke off a piece of the dark coloured item.

Placing it in his mouth, he held his breath not really knowing why, but instinct told him to first get accustomed to it and then swallow it quickly so he wouldn't taste it.

He was surprised when it quickly started melting in his mouth, and finally giving in he let the rich texture quickly sink in to his buds. A grin played on the corner of his mouth as realization hit him full in the face. It was sweet as candy.

He had to have another taste of the addicting substance, so he broke off another piece and popped it even more quickly into his mouth than he did the first time. And then let it melt on his tongue, as a complete wave of ecstasy washed over him.

'Now this is something Sesshomaru woud have a hard time resisting', he almost smirked at the thought of his brother going hyper with the sweet tasting substance.

Resisting the temptation of eating the entire thing, he placed the rest in his haori. He just had to show Miroku this stuff, he might figure out what it is, he always knows about these things.

Getting up from his spot, he noticed direction in which the spear was pointing in and decided to follow that route when he was ready to journey once more.

He felt lighter in his steps when he felt the blood in his system thickening. His youkai powers were slowly beginning to return once more and would be transforming back to his old self anytime soon.

As he walked at a faster pace he could hear loud noises up ahead of him, and was beggining to think that he had finally found his way out of the forest. After deciding to sprint the rest of the way, he came upon a vast clearing in which cows and other cattle were grazing in the fields. There were also farmers working the large fields of rice currenty about, and merchants driving their wagons towards what seemed a giant fortress.

There it was Magasaki town, Inuyasha peered at the place where he had been assigned to find out more about this gold business with someone named Tsubaki, and then bring back the gold to the emperor. When Inuyasha was informed that the town was surrounded by a high fortress he didn't really believe it. Why would a town do that to itself? But now as he stood at the top of a hill he could definately see the truth quiet well.

Wooden poles lined each other neatly from the bottom to the very top, where the tops met in sharp ridges, preventing any enemies to climb over the safe guarded walls. While the very front entrance held many guards in position checking the passing by merchants on their way to make a sale in the market. What even amazed Inuyasha was the sixty feet gate that hung so carelessly in the air held by powerful chains to keep it from crashing down on everyone.

'It would take at least twelve strong men to close that gate', Inuyasha thought shrewdly.

He could already start to hear the morning noises coming from the city's inner square, meaning the people were just starting to wake, and that Inuyasha's senses were becoming more acute.

He then turned and bowed towards the forest respectfully, wondering if the person who had aided him out of the forest was watching somewhere still.

He was about to make his way towards the town when he heard a sight tinkling of bells and saw a quick flash of white retreat into the forest.

'I see...so my suspicions were correct. It was you who had helped me to survive in the forest. Well then... I shall be forever indebted to you girl. On my word of honour.' He silently promised as he made his way towards the town, noticing that in just a few minutes he would no lomger be a human for another month's time.

Allrighty here's chapter 3 done. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter...to me it was a filler and i strained to make ends meet, and i tried to keep my eyes awake. oh my it's late now so i gotta go to sleep cause i have to work today in a couple of hours...eee!

Well love you guys and review...must know people's opinions so i can formulate this story to my loving fans liking.

Ja ne

and goodnight..er..morning..well for me anyways its goodnight,

Blessings

Babydragon.


	4. Magasaki Town

Hola amigos! its Babydragon. First I woud like to reply to some reviews I have had...

Snowecat: wow your smart, and I thank you for pointing out that fact to me. I'm not really too familiar with the Japanese culture...im English as you can see... and it's always great to have some one tell you a thing or two about the wonderful Japanese. I'll try to be careful in my terms too, but hey its my first fic so I'm all excited.

Inu kagome 4life: Thanx a ton really I mean it...(tears start streaming down face) you're the best... and if the pricess is a demon or not...well maybe...hm...you'll just have to wait and see. hehehhehe.

C Moon: Glad you asked because I believe you may be the first to notice that. I love the movie Princess Mononoke and my good friend actually got me the movie so I am using some ideas and some similar characteristics in relation with my story. You'll probably notice some things, but I don't want to plagerate wonderfull studio Gibli's work so not too much things...but yeah the inspiration came from here. Good observations.

EVE: Thanks alot for the compliment...but i still love writing as a hobby (giggle), and thanks for putting me up on your site I really appreciate it alot. It's kinda hard starting off from scratch. You really are helping me out and I wish to give you a big hug for that...and a million dollars too but im dirt poor...so a hug and love will just have to do for now.

I dedicate this chapter to all of the above reviewers so far... thanx without you i would be sad because without you i'd think my story was horrible. But you all make me happy. on with the chapter now

Disclaimer: "Inuyasha come here boy. Come here to Babydragon."

Inuyasha glares at Babydragon "Quit treating me like a dog! and I dont belong to you... I belong to Rumiko Takahashi and...", he trails off.

Babydragon: "Sorry what was that?"

Inuyasha: "and...", he starts blushing madly. "To all the ramen in the world"

Babydragon: sweat dropps! " Fine then ...be that way"

I don't own Inuyasha, apparently he'd rather be a slave to ramen...(grumbles sourly under breath), and I don't own some of the ideas that seem to be Princess Mononoke... that's licensed by Studio Gibli. But i do own some ramen. which Inuyasha won't get if he doesn't become mine!!

Chapter 4 Magasaki Town.

The General had some difficulty entering the town of Magasaki. Apparently they did not believe that he had been sent out by the emperor on a request to aid Tsubaki and her men on the search for the gold. Well it wasn't till he threatened to kill them that the guards had to actually send for Tsubaki herself to come and investigate the problem.

Upon recognizing Inuyasha as the mentioned General that he had claimed to be, the guards turned into grovelling idiots, begging for forgiveness for their stupidity. Inuyasha waved the apology away with dismissal, and claimed that if they had not acted with suspicion then what kind of guards would they be? As a guard they are supposed to interogate every suspicious character, and he for one was suspicious himself for he had never been to this town before.

The woman Tsubaki laughed in an eerie high pitched giggle when he had said that, and actually agreed with him.

Taking a closer look at the woman, Inuyasha had found her to be a bit attractive. She had a beautiful face and nice figure, but the women seemed to have a strange aura about her. Something that made the hairs on his neck stand on end.

He quickly pushed the thought away and followed the woman to the inner part of the town. There he was told that they would be meeting up the next day in the town's hall. After parting ways Inuyasha was then taken to where his friends and commanding troops were staying.

To say they were surprised was an understatement... they were in fact in shock.

Many of his men turned a gaslty white and had thought that they were laying eyes upon the ghost of their once commanding General. One had even fainted. Miroku stopped in mid air as he was about to grope his favourite victim, while Sango had her hand raised ready to slap the pervert away, but stopped and stared at him wide eyed.

"Inu...Inuyasha?", Miroku stuttered, and forgot all about the lovely Sango's hinny.

A cocky smirk had formed in one of the corners of the hanyou's mouth, "No I'm a talking puppet! Of course it's me you bastards".

Sango and Miroku both narrowed their eyes, while the rest of the men in the room quivered in fear, half believing that he really was a talking puppet and the other half that he was a ghost still.

"Yeu-p it's definately him", Miroku muttered recognizing that if it was Inuyasha, he was bound to have a dirty mouth like always.

The rest of them men relaxed when they found out that their general had indeed survived the fall, and that he was not a ghost coming back for revenge because they did not carry out their duty as proper sodiers would.

The hanyou general's two best friends began to ask a million and one questions, and Inuyasha had to tell them to shut up and ask questions after he had cleaned up and eaten something.

He was given a hot bath and a fresh change of clothes at once, which the soldiers scrambled madly to have done on time. They all had a deep sinking feeling that their general was not very happy with their sad performance a couple days earlier. It was only a matter of time that he would execute a vast amount of dreadful punishment.

So at the moment they did what was best to make him very very comftorable. Even if it meant hauling a hundred buckets to fill up his bath and chopping a dozen trees to make sure that the fire for his bath would not go out.

After he had freshen up he went to go join Miroku for good meal, and the general had not even gotten comftorable when the Lieutenant exploded with a million questions once again.

"You arrived here just a day after we did Inuyasha, how did you ever manage to survive a fall just as that?''.

"You should know better than anyone else Miroku that a fall like that won't easily kill me", Inuyasha glared at his good friend.

" I uh...yeah I knew that", he replied nervously,"Well how did you manage to find your way out without a guide?", he changed the subject.

"Someone helped me out, but I'm not so sure who it was"

"What did this person look like then?''

"You know I honsetly don't know what she looked like cause this girl had this strange looking mask on, so her features were..."

"A girl you say? Hm...Inuyasha you sly dog you! So that explains the delay of your reappearance doesn't it?"

"No it's not like that you perverted bastard", Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "I'm not even sure if she was a demon or not too, but i did remember that she did have these weird clothes and fangs. Heck I bet she was like one of those amazonian women you talked so much about one time".

A sly grin spread across the Lieutenant's features as he recalled reading a book on the exotic women warriors of ancient Greece. Who use to cut off their right breasts, making it easier to shoot a bow and arrow, and view men as nothing but mating material. That idea mainly is what had interested him in the first place. Especially a specific chapter he had book marked on the so called topic of men slavery towards mating.

The sly looking Lieutenant had to clear his throat in order for him to snap back to reality and prevent him from thinking any further thoughts. Especially since he was in the presence of a very highly sensitive nosed hanyou. Whom was currently off in his own little world, with a look of of longing displayed on his features.

"Well Inuyasha apparently that cannot be possible for many have said that they once existed in the areas of Europe, Asia minor and Africa. The Greeks, Romans and other earlier civilizations wrote about or depicted the Amazons in their art. Many Greek myths are filled with tales of the Amazons and their exploits, love affairs and battles."

"So what is your point then Miroku?"

"That unless you can tell me that she had one single breast, I can not say that the girl you met in the forest is actually one of the fighting beauties of war and battle".

"Well now that you mention it I do remember seeing her own both sets of...," Inuyasha looked away flustered when he realized the word he was going to use.

"Mhm...I see...well can you tell me how big they were just in case if my assumption was wrong", he scratched his chin thoughtfully, looking serious.

"Well...", Inuyasha scruntched up his brow as he tried to remember that fact specifically, "I'd say they were a bit bigger than average...about this big", he held out both hands a couple inches from his chest to give him a descriptive view.

"Oh I see now", his eyes widened slightly for just a mild second, then he turned back to looking serious once more."And may I ask what type of clothing she was wearing, just to give me a good idea on what kind of person we may be dealing with here".

"Uh...well her clothes were alot more...you know, they showed alot of skin. I'm guessing it was probably made out of some animal's fur cause they were just bits and pieces."

"Bits and pieces?. Hm I see", Miroku frowned," And can you tell me how nicely her legs were shaped", he added.

"Well they were very smoo--. Hey! what's this all about? Describe her my ass! You pervert! You just want to know how she looked like so you can fantasize about her later. I can't believe you tried to trick me into doing that. You bastard!", he huffed and picked up his cup of sake, downing it fast.

Miroku laughed nervously, "Well not exactly... I was just curious as to how she looked like so I could spot the one who had saved my closest friend amongst all of the warrior beauties. And then thank her personally for a job well done".

Inuyasha growled, "Don't you even think about approaching her you pervert, or I'll smash your face in."

"Whoa whoa, since when did you get so defensive about someone you hardly even know?".

"Shut up I'm not defensive...I just don't want you to..."

"Inuyasha I have inspected the weapon that you have brought back and I must say that I am quite impressed", the demon slayer chirped as she walked in after parting the shoji door to the room.

"Sango my dearest if you wouldn't mind, Inuyasha and I were in the middle of a very important and private conversation. So could you please come back in a couple of minutes".

"Was it about that warrior girl he met in the forest? If it is then I already know", she narrowed her eyes.

"Gu-wah! Wait you know, but how...and before mwah? I am downright offended", he frowned.

"Keh, you'll live", Inuyasha pointed out as he took a small sip of his drink casually. "So what else can you tell me about it Sango?"

"Well I did a series of testing on it and I've found that it can even pierce throught the thickest of armour. See here, this stone was cut to perfection meaning that this spear was intended to take down powerful prey and enemies. She must of really put alot of effort into making this, and for her to just give it to you...well I must say that I am very surprised".

"And what is that supposed to mean. Just what are you trying to imply now?", the general's left eyebrow twitched irritably.

"Oh nothing", she grinned.

Inuyasha huffed and went back to calmly sipping his sweet tasting sake, although he did have a dark frown on his face while he was doing so. "What can you tell me about the set of chopsticks?"

"Either than you can eat with them...well basically nothing, they're just a set of regular bamboo chopsticks."

"And the designs?"

"They are pretty unusual to me but I can't seem to figure out what they represent. If you ask me I believe that they were her own personal utensils that she gave to you.", her sly grin came back once more.

Inuyasha snorted and pushed away her meaning to the back of his mind for the moment, " She did leave me with one more thing and I've never seen anything like it, but the taste is so sweet and...well here let me show you", he stated as he picked up his red haori from his lap.

He reached into the deep pocket, stitched inside the garment, and pulled out a white wrap.

It seemed as if it had gotten squished during his travels and when he unwrapped it the corners stuck together.

"Aw great! I think it melted, but here try some it's really good", he held out some of the brown looking subtance towards his two companions.

"Very funny Inuyasha just because you got lost in the forest for a couple days doesn't mean that you had to resort yourself into a savage, their is no way on earth that you're are going to trick me into eating shit!", he scrunched up his nose in disgust.

"What are you talking about? It's not shit!", Inuyasha looked offended."You havn't even tried it you bozou!".

"Well no offense just cause you find it tasty doesn't mean that I will. For the love of the heavens just exactly what did you live off of while you were lost in that forest my friend?", Miroku scrunched up his face in sympathy.'Poor guy did he really have to eat that stuff?'.

"Here let me try some", Sango leaned forward and dipped her finger into the brown, mucky substance.

"Aw Sango my dearest nooo! That's just nasty!", he made a face of disgust. While deep down inside he knew that this action would really kill a couple of those midnight fantasies he often had of her.

A sheer look of blissfulness crossed her features before she dipped her finger in once more into the brown coloured material, and in turn popped it into Miroku's mouth. He gagged for a couple seconds until the same look of contentment crossed his features.

"Hey it's actually pretty good. Just what is that stuff?''.

"I was hoping you guys could of explained it to me. I have no clue just what this stuff is myself."

"Well if you'd like we could go around asking the townspeople if they know what the stuff is", Sango chirped while she was trying to sneak another dip with her finger.

"Nah,were gonna be busy with this darn expedition thing so we don't have time to go around asking people such questions".

"Yeah and besides some people might get the wrong idea", Miroku added.

Both set of eyes turned to him and gave him a 'oh grow up' look. "Anyways I think I better start heading off to bed now we got a long day tomorrow and we won't know what kind of dangers we'll face", he quickly stated changing the subject.

"I doubt we'll face too many problems in that forest", Inuyasha huffed.

"What makes you say that?", the lieutenant asked, while he got up and stretched his legs.

"Just that the entire time I was in that forest I didn't even encounter a single demon. And I was in my human form too, which made it alot easier to track down my scent".

"Well of course the reason why you didn't encounter a single demon was because of the fact that your warrior women was protecting you the entire time", Sango teased.

"Shut up!", Inuyasha growled as he turned a beet red colour.

"Awww...you're blushing. Inuyasha is actually blushing.", she excaimed playfully.

"I said to can it!", Inuyasha barked as he stood up to bonk Miroku on the head.

"Ow what the hell did I do", he whined while he rubbed the sore spot. There's gonna be a big bump later, that's for sure.

"Nothing, you didn't do nothing", he snorted roughly through his nose.

"Then why'd you hit me for then?"

"Because she's laughing her ass off, and it's only right that I take it out on her future husband".

Sango immediately sobbered up and turned a crimson colour. ''Wh-wh-what are you talking about", she stuttered.

"Yeah just what are you talking about", a beet red coloured lieutenant stammered as well. "Whoever said I was gonna propose?".

At that Sango's eyebrows began to twitch in anger and a look of murder was aimed directly towards the man, who knew he should of just kept his big mouth shut.

"Lieutenant Priest! Why you!"

"Sango dearest I was merely joking...p-please don't be ang--Ahh!", he screeched madly as the dearest women to his heart began to chase him around the room. Wanting to get her hands on his neck so she could choke the life out of him.

Inuyasha smirked at the comical scene.'Those two really have a thing for each other...Some things just never change'.

The next day Inuyasha woke up bright and early, got dressed and headed down towards the town's main building. There he had an opportunity to meet some of the diggers and apparently some strangley dressed fighters. The two fighters followed the women Tsubaki closely, as if they were her personal body gurads.

One of them had long hair tied in a braid that ended all the way past his waist, while the other resembled some sort of reptile. Both of them stared in his direction and he could see them in his peripheral vision, but paid them no mind. Instead he signalled for his men to run a couple laps around an open field, and complete a set of three hundred push ups. 'That was nothing', he smirked to himself,'wait till tomorrow'.

After the men finished their workout routine, or torture as they saw it, they mounted their horses and followed after Tsubaki and her men into the forests.

Inuyasha rode alongside the creepy, yet beautiful woman. She kept giving him glances now and then, and her face remained emotionless, making it hard to tell withh what she was thinking.

Wanting to break the silence between them Inuyasha spoke with what had been bothering him the last couple of days since he'd first set foot on this journey.

"Is is true of what they say...that there are demons in these woods that eat the flesh of both man and demon?".

The woman threw back her head and gave out a high pitched laughter, which made his ears shrink back slightly at the noise.

"There are demons in these woods General, but they eat the flesh of anything that breathes. Humans are an example but so are the creatures that live out here".

"And what type of demons are we talking about to be exact?"

"Just your average wolf demon or flesh eating centipedes".

"That's all? I thought there would be demons out here that would be more of a challenge".

"Oh its not the demons you should worry about General. That is not the real reason why the emperor sent you on this mission in the first place."

Inuyasha's ears slightly perked at this, "Then what is it that I need to be concerned about?"

"The ones that live in these forests. They call themselves the Nabuki people, but in reality they are heartless, cold savages who would do anything to keep us out of their forests", Tsubaki spat.

'Heartless, cold...savages?, but her...she protected me. She kept me alive and helped me out of these forests. Can it be that this woman is mistaken, surely not all the people that live in these forests can be cold hearted. No, I can't believe it'.

The general turned questioning eyes towards the woman that rode alongside him on her dark grey horse.

Her features seemed cold, almost evil. There was an aura about her that just didn't settle with him. The other thing that he noticed was that she smelled of blood. Someone else's blood.

"Have you ever even met with these Nabuki people Tsubaki?"

She grinned, "Why of course I have, otherwise how would I have known about the treasure of gold in the first place".

Inuyasha didn't like this one bit.

"That's righ! There sonny", an old man riding a large brown cow, suddenly squeezed right in between Inuyasha's black stallion and Tsubaki's grey mare.

He resembled someone Inuyasha use to pick on as he was growing up. Someone old and wrinkly that resembled a giant flea. Myouga, his old, private tutor.

"My lady here has killed many of these Nabuki people, including the great White Wolf demon Raikon and his human whore Midoriko. The legend had it that many years ago the woman Midoriko fell in love with the great leader of the forests, Raikon. She was a guardian amongst the humans, this woman and she protected a great chest of gold. Now rumour has it that it isn't any ordinary chest of gold. Nooo sir-ry! This chest of gold is enchanted said to grant any being; human, or demon a desire of the heart. Well..any ways...what was I saying again", he scratched his head in confusion.

Inuyasha frowned, while Tsubaki whacked him on the head, " You were at the part where the chest of gold could grant any desire of the heart be it human or demon", she huffed her last words out of breath from saying it all at once.

"Oh yes, now I see. Well anyways, Midoriko was then swept away in the middle of the night by the White Wolf Raikon and taken amongst his people. When the villagers went to go and fetch the woman the next day it was said that the treasure was nowhere to be found as well", he agreed with his own story. "It wasn't until many years later when a wondering traveller happened upon the village and the Nabuki people. This traveller knew right away the rumours of Midoriko running away with the treasure and her relationship with the White Wolf. So after a thorough investigation he escaped one night and informed the people of what he had seen. That is where my lady... uh!...What was it again that you did my lady?", he scratched his long beard, looking deep in thought.

Tsubaki whacked him on the head once more, "You were about to tell the General here of how I was victorious in slaying that bastard wolf... and his little human whore", she smiled wickedly.

"Ah yes...what she said", he chuckled dryly.

Inuyasha frowned slightly, "And what were your reasons for killing them in the first place, couldn't you have settled it some other way?".

The woman flipped her hair to the side, "You know as well as I do that savages do not listen to reason. Besides it wouldn't of happened if that damn woman didn't dirty herself with a demon. Humans should only mate with humans, and demons with demons, anything else is just an abomination", she spat.

Inuyasha's fist shook, 'Wench how dare she!'

"I only interact with purebloods, nothing else. You see all my men...they are either full demon or pure human. Nothing else", she raised her chin in the air, but then she turned questioning eyes towards him. "You are a full blooded demon General...aren't you?".

He was about to tell her to go fuck herself when several of the men started shouting about a demon that they had captured up ahead of them.

Tsubaki smiled wickedly and snapped her reigns againts the mare's back for her to gallop to the scene faster.

Inuyasha jumped off his stallion quickly and sprinted towards where his men had cornered the demon againts a wall of boulders near a river. When he arrived he spotted two demons a small pup, and a taller one. The one that seemed older was shielding the younger one againts the advancing men. Inuyasha presumed that it was the father who was just trying to protect his kit againts any danger. They were harmless in his eyes, so there was no need to shed any blood. Especially againts the innocent.

"Stand down men there's no need to make a scene here so let's move out", he barked.

The soldiers sheathed their swords and went back to their horses, grateful that they didn't have to fight. Some of them were still sore from this morning's torture.

"Kill them", Tsubaki hissed at the retreating men.

Inuyasha turned to her with confusion, "What are you talking about woman? I said they were harmless so let's move out".

"No!", she turned defiant eyes towards the General bfore her."This is the perfect bait to lure out those cowardly savages. If we kill them then they will have to come to us and then we will take the treasure away from them." she laughed her awful, high pitch screech. "Isn't that just the perfect plan?''.

Inuyasha sneered at her, " You've lost your mind wench! I will not have any of my men shed innocent blood".

"Whoever said I needed your men to do my work? Manten! Hiten!"

The two demon that Inuyasha had seen earlier ran towards their mistress' side.

"Yes my lady?", they both grinned.

"Kill them", she flicked her hand carelessly and sat back to enjoy the view.

"Stop! What the hell are you doing?", Inuyasha managed to say before the one that resembled a human shot forward and brought down his choice of weapon. A sharp pike that emanated thunder from its very core,

A high pitched yell pierced through the still air, and before Inuyasha could snap out of his state of shock, the human demon had swung his pike down and sliced throught the thick fur of the larger demon.

"Papa", the small kit screeched once more when a gush of blood spewed out from the demon's head and splattered againts the once grey boulders.

The human demon grinned evilly and then licked at his lips where a drop of blood had landed. He then turned his pike to the side and the sickening sound of bone crunching met everyone's ears as his skull split in half. A loud thud then proceeded as the top half of the demon's head dropped carelessly towards the ground and slightly rolled in front of the kit's feet. The kit's eyes widened at the sight of his father's ghastly piece of head and tears started streaming down his innocent face.

The human demon smirked as he raised his thunder pike in the air, ready to strike down the young pup as well.

Faster than anyone could blink, he unsheathed his sword and stepped in front of the young kit with a transformed fang. A loud clash of metal againts metal rang through the air and the human demon frowned in anger.

Inuyasha growled at the disgusting demon, baring his fangs dangerously. "Tsubaki tell your man to step down now!".

As Inuyasha growled out his order, his men unsheathed their swords, ready to protect their General at all costs, even if it meant ignoring the pain from their soreness.

He didn't take time to notice this as the woman in return just grinned darkly, "Why General they are just simple demons. No need to get all upset", she laughed.

Inuyasha growled even louder when the blasted woman didn't obey his order, so he took the matter into his own hands and smashed his forehead againts the demon's, sending him flying back. The demon landed roughly onto his back, knocking the wind out of him. When he sat up he felt a cold trickle slide down his face, and when he swiped at it he noticed it was his own blood.

Inuyasha sheathed his sword, and turned murderous eyes towards the wench, "Next time you do not tell one of your men to obey my orders I'll kill him", he spat.

Tsubaki frowned, "Remember General you are here to assist me in finding the treasure for the emperor himself. And I discreetly remember him saying to find the treasure at all costs, that nothing was to get into my way in finding it for him", she snarled.

Inuyasha huffed and turned his back on the insane woman. He bent down slowly and picked up the kit into his arms. He had a sinking feeling when the kit just lay limply in his arms, and stared straight ahead. He didn't even blink, and it seemed as if his breathing had slowed down greatly, only managing a small rise in his chest every minute.

'Poor guy, he must have lost his will to live', Inuyasha sighed as he stared down at the helpless kit.

A small tear from the corner of his eyes had formed, and he didn't even notice as it slid down his face slowly and under his chin. When gravity gave way, the tear fell towards the earth and landed on a grey stone. It left a darker shade of colour on the stone, standing out greatly and representing the pain of a broken heart.

"Papa", the General heard the kit whisper one last time before he passed out in his arms.

The general held the kit close to him for a couple seconds longer in an embrace. His frame shook with held back anger and frustration that he dearly wished to release. He even imagined himsef walking up to the evil woman and killing both her and her henchmen. That would of been enough for him to avenge the death of the innocent kit's father, and for the pup's pain.

Sango immediantly rushed foward and took the kit from the General's trembling hands. She gave him a knowing look and took off on her companion Kilala towards the town.

Inuyasha trusted her with the kit's life, she knew what was best right now and he was grateful that she had left with him. Tsubaki and her men would not even dare to approach the pup, not if they wanted to live.

"If you're to weak to handle a simple mission than go home General", Tsubaki flipped her hair and galloped ahead with her henchmen following closely behind her.

The human demon just glared at the general as he passed him, but Inuyasha noticed a small glint of fear in the demon's eyes and he wasn't intimitated one bit.

"You all right General?", Miroku spoke as Inuyasha mounted his stead.

"Yeah", he replied thickly with held back frustration.

"You did the right thing my friend and the men even approve of your actions", he indicated with his chin at the men behind them, who looked at him with a new found appreciation.

Inuyasha nodded, but his mind was somewhere else. He wasn't thinking at the moment of his men's new found respect. Although it did please him and helped ease some of his burning anger.

"Lietenant once we find what we're looking for let's leave right away. Because as far as I'm concerned this treasure isn't even worth it", he stated harshly.

Miroku nodded, " I agree with you. If this treasure has only brought pain and the shedding of innocent blood then it isn't even worth a second thought".

'If she brought this much pain towards a small child...then I can't imagine how much pain she has brought towards others, especially the people that live in these forests. I can imagine that someone out there is hurt deeply by this wench's evil actions... something tells me that this is just only the beginning though'.

A loud blow echoes through the air...I'm sorry its just that while I was writing Shippo's little part... I was crying. (blows nose again and wipes away at the tears that smudged the ink in my notebook. Originally Shippo ony went limp and then passed out in Inuyasha's arms, but I was listening to my Inuyasha CD (The best of Inu 2, the last song on the cd) and i became overwhelmed with this feeling that went along with that section and it turned out to be longer. Poor Shippo..he's my favourite character, other than inu, and doing this to him makes me real sad. As we go along I won't really know what will happen to him, I might change the storyline a bit from my original work or stick with it. We'll just have to see.

Well I hope you guys enjoy this chappie...and i know i added the word amazon a couple times in there, but i tried to avoid it ...its hard considering my original had that word quiet a few times in there. But im changing it cause i love you guys and im doing it to please my readers. (notice the little Miroku history lesson in there) i added that after i did some research on amazonians...and it went along with my story line better than i had expected..(thanx a ton Snowecat!! i really appreciate the way you helped me out there!!!) neways i might take a while to post the next chappie cause i gotta work all week from three-eleven at night, and night time's when i like typing cause there are no interuptions. But alas it might take me 3-4 days so be patient folks!! don't worry i shall update soon though .!!

Blessings

Babydragon


	5. Enough

Hi there sorry I havn't updated..its cause of work... I hate working 3-11pm and i am not a person that likes sleeping in either so lately I have not had time to update. Or else i would of been sleeping in and it upsets my whole balance( just makes me feel grouchy and uncomftorable...not good for perfect writing mode). so here I am back to normal schedule.(for a while) and I gotta say woa woa woa...hold up a minute. I know you guys really wish to know all the answers to the questions, but hey the story is just beginning there will be more scenes along the way that will definately answer your questions, but for now I cant give too much away...otherwise there will be no suspense and that is one of my genre's. I love you guys so much that I am tempted to say all the answers now , but hold on a minute ok-e-doo-kee. First of all i shall answer a couple things that may help...let me see now...okay, well Tsubaki is working with someone, and yes he's related to Naraku...and yes she is after a treasure. I can't give out more on the treasure though cause i'll have a chapter clarifying that soon with what they're really after. Oh and another thing...Inuyasha was so angry that he failed to bury Shippo's papa...yes I know its the honourable thing to do, and his men couldn't of done it with out direct orders from their General...so...no one buried him. Sad to say..but I have a good reason why his body needed to be out in the open. Hint Hint (to draw out the forest people).

Okay you must really be thinking well that's no help...so I'll be quiet now and be on with the story.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha does not belong to Babydragon. He has made that very clear! His life belongs to Rumiko Takahashi ...

(A certain hanyou glares evilly in my direction, mildly threatening to slice me if I didn't continue)

Babydragon shrugs "Oh all right all right...(sigh) and all the ramen in the world", (Yeesh stubborn Inu, cute, but stubborn)

Chapter 5 Enough.

It had only been a month since the incident occured where Shippo's loving, devoted father had passed away. Tsubaki still made numerous amounts of visits into the forest with her group of men, and still kept killing off many demons. Both innocent and evil. The General hardly intervened during those times, letting the power hungry woman order around her men, and allow them to take down the demons that crossed their paths. It was only when he felt that it was neccesary to step in and halt her actions that the woman obey his orders. Ever since that mild threat one month ago, she'd been careful not to fully upset him for she had seen the strength in him. Not even her strongest bodygurad was able to withstand a direct blow from him, let alone what his full blunt wrath might cause.

Although she was curious about him and found that there was something very odd about his behavior. She was even more so when he had dissapeared for three days straight and no one, not even the Lieutenant, that kept giving her nervous glances every time she stared into his direction, knew the whereabouts of the General.

It was almost as if he was hiding a secret. Tsubaki even began to grow paranoid that maybe he had become friends with the blasted Nabuki people. It explained why he wasn't allowing her to kill some of the demons that got in her way.

The Nabuki people always did dwell with all sorts of demons, even abominations such as half-breeds.

The General's behaviour towards these demons would expain a great deal if he were hiding a deep, dark secret.

So she kept a close watch on him and informed her two most loyal henchmen to do the same. Even if they slightly feared him, they would obey their mistress's orders.

It was a cold, and windy night when Inuyasha awoke abruptly from his light sleep. He was a bit dazed as his two, pointy ears twitched left and right, trying to catch the sounds of the occupied and large room. He became more alert when he heard the sound once again that had first roused him from his sleep.

Letting his amber eyes wander in the direction of the sound, he noticed in the far corner, where the demon slayer layed, the small kitsune was wiping away at some tears that began to fall from the corners of his sky-blue eyes.

With his advanced youkai sight he was able to cross the room quietly, stepping over a snoring Miroku, and towards the small kit.

The kitsune sniffled as quietly as he could, not even noticing that the general was right beside him due to the lack of lighting in the room. His young youkai powers were still not as fully developed as an adult youkai's own powers, making it difficult for him to see cearly in the dark.

Allowing his small hands to swipe at the new set of tears, he suddenly felt a heavy and yet gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Hey...you all right?", he heard him whisper, and realized instantly that it was the one who had tried to save him and his father.

The kit nodded slowly, but was looking down in front of him as he did.

Inuyasha's eyes softened slightly as he stared at the helpless kit. He hardly ever spoke since the incident, and if he did it was a simple 'yes or no'.

But that was rare as well since the only one he said those words to were him and only him. Even Sango, who helped bathe and dress him, had a difficult time getting him to speak. Inuyasha couldn't blame him. After witnessing his father's murder, he was suprised that he wasn't even bloodthirsty for revenge upon the person who had ordered such a vile act in the first place.

"Let's get some fresh air kid, maybe it'll help you feel a little better", Inuyasha whispered, very aware that the others were still sleeping and didn't want to disturb them, not after they came back exhausted from fighting off a horde of venom spitting snake youkai. Heck even he felt wiped out, but set it aside in order to help the crying kit out. Who needed the comfort of someone at the moment.

The kit nodded and carefully pulled the covers off, setting them to the side as he followed the tall, young general.

The general pulled open the shoji screen door and stepped out into the chilly, night air. He took a deep inhale of the midnight breeze, and casually stretched his arms in the air before he settled onto the floor in an indian style position. He heard the kit shuffle quietly beside him and then settled down a couple feet from where he sat. The kit sniffled a few times before he allowed the silence of the night to overwash him in a strange daze.

The general knew that he had one of his horrible nightmares again...just like almost every night now. At first he hadn't paid too much attention to the kit's sobbing at night, thinking that he would eventually settle down as time passed by. But he was wrong. The days passed by and the kit was still depressed over his father's death. He only wished that there was someway he could help the little guy out.

He heard a deep sigh emanate from his small body and then he slightly shivered. 'Guess he's cold', the general gave him a sympathetic look.

"Do you want to go back inside kid?"

The young kitsune just shook his head sideways, sending his reddish-brown hair flying in all directions.

Inuyasha snorted lightly, "Fine'', he mumbled.

It grew silent between them for a couple of minutes, each one enjoying the other one's company.

As the light mist surrounding the town started to lift itsef it became very apparent that the stars were shining brightly out againts the dark blue veil in the sky.

"You know...I bet your old man is looking down on you right now", Inuyasha mumbled, breaking the silence between them.

The kit didn't reply to his statement but instead looked up towards the sky, hoping for any sign in particular that may help raise his spirits.

"My old man died too when I was little. I know just how you feel kid", he sighed.

The kit turned large, questioning eyes on the young general sitting right beside him.

"It's tough. I know...but you're a demon so you gotta be tough in this world no matter what.", he mumbled on , thinking that maybe his words might lead him somewhere although he wasn't too good on giving advice when it came to the heart.

The kitsune was still looking up at him as if at any moment he might be able to bring back his father somehow.

"And besides no one is ever really gone. They will always be there for you when you least expect it. Right here", he leaned in a bit and tapped him lightly on the left side of his chest.

The kitsune nodded and then gave him a genuine smile.

"Thank you".

The general's eyes widened slightly for a bit, 'the kid had actually said something other than a simpe yes or no'. He must of been making some progress with the kid.

"I believe what you say...because I know my papa will never leave me no matter what," the kitsune set his face in determination.

A small smirk met the corner of the general's mouth, "damn right he won't".

The kitsune nodded, but then his determined features slighlty contorted as a yawn escaped him.

"Heh. Looks like you should be heading off to bed kid".

The kitsune smiled before he rose up from his spot and started making his way back inside.

"Hey kid", Inuyasha called out gently before he dissapeared inside.

The kitsune turned around and gave him a questioning gaze.

"What's your name anyways?"

The kitsune put a finger on his chin thoughfully before he responded.

"My papa always called me Shippo. So I guess my name is Shippo".

Inuyasha nodded in understanding, " I see...well night Shippo", he stated before he turned back to looking at the stars in the sky.

"Night", the kitsune whispered softly before heading back inside.

The general's ears twitched slightly, catching onto the kitsune's words, before resting stil on top of his long silver mane onve more.

'I'm becoming soft', he mentally scoffed at himself as he stared up at the stars a few minutes longer, before heading back inside himself.

Sunlight filtered through the open shutters, cascading in a mixture of red and orange colours onto the frame that twitched slightly at the feel of warmth on her face.

After a few exaggerated blinks to clear the sleep away from her eyes, her body stretched in a cat like manner, arching her spine in the air, before she rolled out from underneath the thick layer of blankets.

Once locating a fresh change of clothing, she gathered her bathing supplies and slipped on her mask and white fur cloak, before she headed towards the bath.

Sliding open the bamboo wooden door to her home, she jumped down the two steps and landed in the lush green grass below. She closed her eyes as a knowing smile crossed her lips at the feel of the cool, damp vegetation underneath her bare feet. After savouring the feel of the fresh morning grass, she headed to the small bath house attatched to the side of her home, and quickly began to prepare a hot bath for herself.

It took some work to prepare a hot bath, but she would rather start off her day in a refreshing manner, then to go throughout the day without one. Some of the village people managed to find time to bathe, but it wasn't too often.

After placing a couple more logs underneath the baths she undressed from her night clothing and took off her mask, then slipped into the warm liquid substance. She was in the middle of washing her ravenous locks when her ears turned slightly as they picked up on the voices of some frantic calling.

Her features contorted into a frown as she rushed to get out of the bath and began to dress quickly. She ran out of the bath house and around the corner, and came to a sudden stop when she noticed the owner of the voice that was frantically calling for her audience.

"Hush now you shall wake up my Lady", she whispered, noticing that it was still very bright and early in the day for anyone to be shouting as loudly as he was.

"Forgive me princess, but there is something important that I must show you and you must see it yourself immediantly," the tall, built warrior, dressed in white clothing and blue spiked armour stated.

She nodded and took off in a run after him, not really paying attention to her dislevelled state of dress. What was needed of her was much more important than her looks and state of discomfort, she reasoned as she noticed her shirt was inside out.

It wasn't long before the two reached their destination at a river's edge with an enormous wall of boulders at one end, making it seem like a giant dam made of rocks. The tall warrior indicated for the princess to come closer at the spot where he was standing, and after a closer inspection of what he was looking, she flinched slightly at the horrid scene. A mass of bones that once held living carnage was off to one side, while what seemed as another small pile of bones was off to the side a couple feet away. There was also dark brown stains splattered across the ground and againts a couple of the boulders near the body.

"Wh-what happened", she gulped, afraid to know the answer.

"It was one of father's dearest and closest of friends...Komaru", he whispered.

A sob escaped through the lips of the princess and she fell forward, crying hard as she curled herself into a little ball.

"This can not be...no not him. Please tell me this is not our beloved friend. Please", she half whispered, hoping that it wasn't true.

Even though deep down inside she knew the worst, that was why their wonderful friend had been missing for some time now.

"I'm afraid it's true princess...it's him", he sighed sadly.

"Who?...Who did this to him?", she yelled angrily as a new set of tears slid down from underneath her mask.

''It was her...Tsubaki and her men", he grinded out with such furry.

The princess wiped at the remaining set of tears that fell from her face as she stood up abruptly.

"Do you know what has happened with his young child, Shippo. Is he all right?'', her voice quavered with worry and fear for the young kitsune.

"I am not so sure, but rumour has it that he is within the town's gates, taken prisoner againts his own will", he looked on in worry.

She nodded and then began to walk a couple feet from where the pile of bones layed.

"Little sister what is it that you are doing?'', he asked when he noticed her beggining to claw at the soft dirt ground with her hands.

"It is only proper that we bury our friend", she mumbled sadly.

He then joined to help her after he picked up a flat, sharp rock from the river's edge and used it to dig a deeper grave.

Kagome sniffled and tried to hold back her tears as memories flooded her mind on all the times their dearly departed friend had been there for them. Been there for her. Especially when her own father was killed almost three years ago, he had acted as a father substitute since then and now...

Things would never be the same.

If only she could do something to avenge the lives of all the people that had been killed by her. Tsubaki. She has brought nothing but pain ever since she had arrived to the town. At first everything was peaceful and there was no pain and suffering, but when she arrived things became difficult. Even strangers from far away lands were not trusted as well as before, in fear of them being spies for that dreadful woman.

She must be stopped before she caused further harm and pain to anyone.

A deep sigh escaped her lips, not realizing that her protector and older brother was watching her curiously the entire time.

"Princess what is it that you are thinking?", he asked with worry etched into his voice.

She looked into his deep brown eyes, a small smile breaking on her lips before she turned her head to the side.

"Promise not to tell?"

He huffed before continuing, "Why! is it something that I'm not going to be happy about?", he ran a hand through his thick, dark brown, course hair.

He usually did that when he was worried or frustrated. Or both.

"Just promise me. Please?"

The tall warrior stood up quickly and began to pace fiercly back and forth. "No! I won't allow you to just throw your life away like that little sister. If your going than I'm going too", he huffed.

The princess pursed her lips, "How did you know that it was what I wanted to do?"

"Because we talked about it last time as well, and then the elders forbid you from going unless you wanted to risk being banished from our people", he snapped.

Her shoulders became square and her back straightened.

He gulped. Now he was in for it.

"Are you suggesting that we then stand by once more while that woman gets away with the death our loved ones once again? Are you saying that we should not even try to avenge their deaths?", she yelled.

"No, I'm not saying that sister, but the elders they'll become very upset and..."

"So what? That has never stopped you before. Of all people, Souta, I thought you would be the one to back me up on this", she yelled in frustration.

His gentle, yet rough features contorted into a hurt expression.

"Yes, but I do not wish to lose you as well sister", he whispered quietly.

Her heart clenched at the deep emotion of hurt she heard in his voice.

"Souta...please understand that I must do this...for our people...for our parents. It is the only way I can bring honour to their deaths."

He nodded in understanding. "Then let me go with you".

"No. I must do this alone, for if I do not come back...then I wish for you, my brother, to take my place as king of our people. Understand", she stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "This is what I ask of you. Will you accept?".

He nodded once more, but not as quickly. He still wished for her to remain, to stay alive and protected, he loved her too greatly to let her go like this. To face the enemy in the snake's pit. But she was raised to honour and to face danger in the worst of times.

This was no exception.

So in the end he had to let her go.

"Thank you brother. Now will you help me bury our dearly departed friend?", she turned back towards the shallow pit in the ground.

Taking a deep breath he went towards his little sister. May it be that she was only his adopted kin, and not true blood, he still loved her more than anyone else. For she was always there.

As he took the sharp stone once more and returned to his task at hand, he allowed a few tears to fall down into the shallow pit he was creating.

The princess also wept silently beside him while she helped create a shallow pit for the body of their departed friend.

'Forgive me brother'.

Nightfall approached and brought on a thick mist of fog towards the town, in which the residents were quietly settling down for the night. It had been a hard day for many of the people living in the town of Magasaki. The rains were not coming in as frequently as many of the farmers had hoped for, therefore ruining some of the crops under the scorching sun.

One woman alone wasn't bothered by the lack of crops being brought into the town, and personally, she didn't care.

But as she stared into a large and elaborated mirror made out of silver, she frowned darkly at her own reflection, worry and frustration seeping out of every single one of her pores.

"Damn it another day gone to waste. I swear if I don't find that treasure soon enough I'll just burn down the entire forest down ", she snorted as she ran her brush roughly through her thin, dark hair.

The process of her actions only caused the wooden brush to tangle dangerously into her own soft tresses, and she cried out in frustration when she couldn't untangle her hair.

Finally, after being fed up with the blasted piece of wood that wouldn't release her beautiful hair, she yanked it out roughly, and pulled out a clump of her own dark hair.

She cried in terror when she saw a bald spot in her lovely scalp, and threw the brush angrily at her own reflection in the mirror.

The mirror shattered into a thousand pieces and flew everywhere, one of the pieces cutting her just below her left eye.

She cried out in agony and clutched at her own face as blood dripped down her once unblemished face.

She then heard heavy footsteps approach outside her door before it was opened suddenly, almost torn from its own place.

"Mistress come quick there is trouble in the town!", her henchman known as Hiten yelled fiercely, not bothering to ask if the woman in front of him was all right.

She was about to make a rude remark to his own stupidity when she suddenly heard the clashing of metal ring loudly throughout the air, stearing her attention away from her bleeding cheek.

"What's going on?", she hissed.

"We're being attacked by the demons of the forest and the girl is amongst them".

A sly grin slowly replaced her angry features, "It's about time the little wench showed up", she stated as she grabbed her dark blue michiyuki and drapped it over her shoulders.

The loud clashing of metal againts metal surrounded the midnight air as Tsubaki headed out from her home.

There was loud shouting and calling of frantic people as they tried to process what was happening to their town.

Tsubaki looked up as she saw the young general, clothed in his red uniform, come running towards her with his men in tow.

"The town on the far west side is being attacked by white wolf demons. I suggest you stay where it's safe Tsubaki", he ordered more than he suggested.

Tsubaki frowned darkly at the demon general before her, "Hmph! I am no coward so do not tell me what to do General", she hissed fiercely.

"Fine then do what you want woman, what happens to you is not my problem", he warned before he turned around to face his troops.

"Men assemble yourselves to the west gate and hold off the enemy. I'll gather everyone else to hold up a defense againts the far east side. Now move out!", he barked.

The men quickly scrambled to do the bidding of the general's orders, while the general himself ran off quickly to gather the remaining men in town.

Tsubaki huffed when he left and headed off towards the west side where the demons were attacking. 'She was no coward, she was not going to stand by and let a little wench ruin her plans in achieving the treasure'

She then allowed the same sly grin to cross her face once more, 'Besides I bet she would just love an early family reunion'.

"Go!", the warrioress ordered the four large, white wolves that sat on either side of her on a hill.

The four large wolf cubs sprang up into action and dashed with lightning speed across the plains towards the town. The warrioress dressed in strikingly similar clothing as her wolves, dashed ahead of the group. When they reached closer towards the town she swiftly used a spear to launch herself over the pointed tops and then crept silently over the large, wooden walls that surrounded the premises of the town.

Her wolf cubs followed closely behind her, leaping stealthy over the wooden walls and landing on the other side where the warrioress awaited.

"Find her", she whispered, before the four wolves dissapeared to the four corners of the town.

One of the wolves must of been careless as he was currently scouting out the town. A youth saw the wolf and raised the alarm in a mere couple of seconds. Now the entire town was on the alert, and the four wolves were battling againts the town's residents and many other fighters.

The warrioress followed that stench she had once smelled long ago, the one that had lingered at the scene of her mother and father's death.

The dark haired woman stood poised in the middle of the town's center, looking pensive and still.

The warrioress hid amongst the shadows as she crept near towards the woman.

"Come on out...I know you're there".

The warrioress stiffened slightly, 'How did she know it was I?'

Without much thought the warrioress lept down from the roof tiled home and shot forward, bringing out her kitana's that she hid till the last point in her cloak.

Tsubaki smirked,'Child's play'.

With that thought she took out a long dagger and aimed it at the advancing girl dressed in white.

The dagger produced a dark purple glow which formed into a ball of evil energy. Before the warrioress had time to react the sphere of energy flew towards her and clashed againts her body, sendind her flying back.

With a simple twist in the air, she landed on her feet roughly and was gasping slightly, ignoring the stars that danced before her eyes.

"Ha! You think you're a match for me. Well guess again little girl because today will be your last day", Tsubaki shrieked in laughter.

The warrioress huffed as she stood up fully once more and took the bow and arrow that was hanging onto her back. She then latched one of the arrows onto her bow and aimed it at the woman who stood a couple of meters away.

The bow made a small 'pang' sound as it flew forward, faster than the blink of an eye.

Tsubaki only had a sight second to react to the arrow as it flew towards her. Bringing the long dagger in front of her she said a small chant and a barrier was erected in front of her. The arrow made in contact with the barrier and it sent a blinding, pale flash in all directions.

Elsewhere the henchmen of Tsubaki were in the middle of fighting off one of the large wolf demons, when they saw the sudden white flash illuminate the sky for a mild second. Leaving the wolf to one of the fighters of the village, the two sprinted off in the direction of the town's center, from where the light had seemed to have come.

The two henchmen had arrived just in time as they spotted the girl dressed in wolfs fur, ready to drive her kitana into their mistresss chest.

Manten opened his enourmous, frog like mouth and sent a bolt of lightning flying her way.

The warrioress didnt notice the bolt of lightning until it was up close and already sending her flying back into the wall of a home.

She hit the wall with such force that it knocked the wind out of her slightly.

The human looking demon then took out his pike and aimed it towards the girl.

She jumped out of the way in time only to leave a small cut on her side as a result.

Feeling warm liquid seep out onto her side, she clutched at her stomach and jumped in mid air as another bolt of lightning was shot in her direction.

"Hm?". Large, blue coloured eyes peeked out the window. He thought he recognized that scent that was somehow seeping through the open windowsill.

Quickly leaping through the window, he rushed forward, following the all familiar scent.

Sango was nearby and when she had spotted the kitsune rushing off quickly she called after it, but he didn't even acknowledge that he had even heard.

She the took off in a sprint after the kit and Miroku questioned her, but only recieved an "I don't know reply?".

He shrugged his shoulders and followed after her as well, worried that if she even left his sight she might get into trouble.

The wolves were fast and enormous, one of them shot forward at man who shrieked out in terror as the wolf clamped his jaws down on the man's neck. Blood splattered in all directions and the wolf carelessly threw the limp body to the side.

Inuyasha growled as one of the wolves with icy, blue eyes made eye contact with him. 'There was no way he was going easy on this demon', he snorted as the wolf just growled dangerously at him. More men arrived to the scene and began throwing spears in the wolve's direction. The four of them seemed to get the message that they were losing the battle and began retreating slowly. One of the men even took out a strange weapon and aimed it at the wolves.

A loud bang then followed, sending the man's arm to jerk back slightly, while a small whizz flew threw the clearing. The black pebble crashed with such force into the ground that it sent debris flying in all directions a few inches away from one of the wolve's. The wolves yellped in surprise and then flew off, back towards the wooden wall and over.

Inuyasha was curious at the strange weapon the man held in his hands. Having such power for sugh a small thing, and yet it seemed it could hardly harm anyone. He didn't have much time to study the weapon when his attention was distracted once more.

"It's my lady she is being attacked and is in need of our help", a short, frail looking man panicked as he gasped for air at the same time.

"Stupid woman, I told her to not get in the way! Doesn't she ever fucken listen", he growled as he sprinted after the men who went to their mistress's aid.

"Princess!", the kitsune shrieked in horror as he saw his good friend fly a couple feet into the air and land roughly on the ground.

She then doubled over gasping trying to catch her breath, but another strong bolt of energy hit her hard in the stomach. She flew againts a hard wall of stone, sending little cracks, resembling the web of a spider, behind her from where she had made impact.

Her legs shook as she tried to hold her weight up, feeling heavy all of sudden as her energy left her in waves from each impact of the bolt of lighning.

A small trickle of blood escaped the corner of her mouth and she hastily swiped at it. 'If I keep this up I will pass out and all of this would of been in vain'.

Tsubaki gave out a piercing laughter that made the blood of the warrioress' boil in anger. "Like I said you little wench... there is no way in hell I would lose to an abomination such as yourself ", she smirked.

"Tsubaki you are nothing without the help of your men and your dark magic, so do not speak to me about abominations!", the warrioress growled as she bared her fangs towards the woman.

"Hmph! How dare you bare your disgusting fangs at me you little bitch", Tsubaki sneered as she pointed her long dagger towards the girl and let a dark sphere hit her hard.

The warrioress grunted falling onto her knees as the little kitsune ran towards his loving friend. "Princess no! Get up please", he called frantically.

"Shippo you must get out of here. Go now", the girl in wolf's clothing whispered in pain.

"No! I won't leave you behind", he cried out and took a defensive stance in front of her body, shielding her from the evil woman and her men.

He growled and bared his fangs at the woman who was casually smirking in his direction.

"Manten! Hiten! Go and tie up the girl".

The two demons nodded while sly grins played on their features as they advanced towards the girl.

"No! Keep away from her. I won't allow you near her", the kitsune growled once more.

The human looking demon chuckled lightly as he sent the kit flying a couple feet away with a fierce kick. "Stay out of the way runt", he spat.

He then bent low towards the unmoving girl and pulled her chin up close to his face.

"Well well well, look at what we have here", he grinned.

The warrioress just snarled at him." Give me a couple of seconds to rest and then I shall be wiping that smirk off your face".

"Ah ah ah! you're forgetting that we know have you hostage girl",he ran his thumb across the smooth skin of her cheek.

"Do not touch me you foul creature", she spat.

The human demon chuckled darkly as he looked at the girl with lust. "Mistress what are we going to do with the girl?'', he turned his head to the side to acknowledge his mistress's orders.

"You can do whatever you want to the girl after you have her tied up idiot!".

The demon winced slighty at the slandering of his intelligence, but did as he was told and tied the girl's arms and legs up.

Once she was tied up securely, Tsubaki walked towards the girl and pushed the over excited demon to the side.

She then grabbed the girl hard by the shoulders and shook her a couple times.

"Girl you shall tell me of the whereabouts of the treasure of I'll take this blasted mask off of you for the world to see your ugly face! And I doubt you would want that", she smirked when she saw the girl flinch.

"I do not know of what treasure you speak of. But I do know this that you killed my parents without reason and for that you shall pay", she yelled as she smashed her forehead againts the woman's nose.

Tsubaki let the girl slip from her grasp as a shriek escaped from her lips. "My nose! My nose! Kill this bitch!"

Manten nodded vigorously before he opened his mouth to send a bolt of lighning flying at the girl.

The warrioress rolled to the side before the blast hit her.

She wriggled around a bit as she expertly took, with her hands tied behind her back, a small knife from her thigh. She then raised her calves behind her and swiftly cut the ropes that held her legs bondaged.

She moved quickly as she dodged another blast and landed in front of the dreaded woman. She sent a kick flying at her face and Tsubaki flew back againts the ground hard.

"Hirarikotsu", she heard a call ring through the air as a giant boomerang, made out of demon hyde, flew towards her.

The warrioress flipped in the air and avoided the boomerang altogether.

Sango caught the weapon and ran towards the injured kit, bent over and picked him up in her arms.

The warrioress was surprised at how her enemy had responded to one of her dearest friends. But she had no time to think about it at the moment as more men arrived at the scene with weapons in their hands.

As Inuyasha arrived towards were Tsubaki and the others were, he stopped dead in his tracks as he tried to process what was going on.

In the middle of the court, cornered, bleeding and hurt, was her. The girl from the forest.

The girl rushed forward and landed a kick on one of Tsubaki's henchmen, sending the lizard looking demon crashing into a pile of pointed logs, one of them piercing him straight through the belly.

'Damn was she ever strong', he gawked at the girl who was currently fending off her life as more men joined in on taking her down.

In anger Hiten, the human looking demon, sent a large bolt of lightning flying towards the girl when he saw his brother pass out. "Wench you'll pay for my brother's death", he yelled.

The warrioress whimpered as she took on the full blunt of the enraged demon's power.

She feel to her knees and then forward as darkness clouded her vision and engulfed her.

The town's men were about to kill her off when Inuyasha rushed in front of her and pulled out his sword. "Stay back all of you!", he barked.

"General?", many of the men questioned.

"This girl is not the one who you want to kill".

Tsubaki huffed in frustration "Just what in the hell are you doing general? Step aside and let the girl be killed."

"Tsubaki shut up! The girl's life is now mine and if you try to stop me I'll kill you", he growled fiercely at her.

Tsubaki gave him a dark glare with defiance glowing madly in her eyes. "Hiten! kill him and the girl before they escape", she snapped.

The demon grinned evilly before he flew forward, raised his pike in the air and brought it down on the general's head.

Inuyasha moved quickly and shot his claws into the demon's throat, slicing his windpipe in half.

The demon gasped for air as he tried to bring down his pike down once more. He was caught off guard as a giant boomerang knocked him sideways and into the dirt, where he layed gasping for air until finally he stopped breathing altogether.

The giant boomerang rebounded towards the female demon slayer once more, where she caught it swiftly and smoothly.

Tsubaki gasped as the general shot her a muderous look for daring to defy his orders. She then cowered behind a group of her loyal men, who were raising their weapons in defense.

The general's own men also took up a defensive stance ready to protect their general if need be.

It was unnerving and silent for a couple of seconds, each group giving the other side intimidating stares, and yet neither one backing down from their defensive state.

The silence only broke when the small kitsune from Sango's arms cried out and quicky bounded towards the injured princess.

"Oh no she's hurt we have to get her help", the kit cried out as he tugged on her cloak, trying to drag her away to safety.

Inuyasha snapped out of his anger and bent to pick up the girl in his arms.

"Don't think you're getting out of here alive general", Tsubaki hissed fiercely.

Inuyasha huffed and sent a silent, but understanding message to his two closest comrades, who nodded in reply.

He then took off at a fast pace after the kit had jumped onto his shoulder.

Arrows and spears flew in his direction, which he dodged effectively, before he heard his men engage in battle with Tsubaki's own.

The kit sqeaked as a spear just missed him, only grazing a few of his reddish-brown hair and flying behind him as they sped through the town, towards the gates.

The gates were down tonight, just like every other night. But that didn't stop the General as he advanced forward and brought down his mighty sword with a swing, breaking a large opening in the gate's thick, wooden interior.

The guards that had stayed put in the tower during the entire time, only blinked in confusion after they heard a loud crash beneath them and saw a blur of silver and red bound across the plains and into the forest.

(Phew!! wipes sweat off brow) that took me a while to write considering i could ony write small paragraphs throughout this entire week..(blast my time schedule::: I am now back to the 3-11pm shift i am so angry) ...o well i only have one more week to work there anyways (Im super happy 'bout that) neways some of you might notice the slight interruptions here and there...(where i would currently pass out from exhaustion or get bored of staring at the screen for too long.)

but finally iam done this chappie for all you wonderful ppls. i really do love writing my stories( i just dont like sitting still for too long either my bum bum ges numb) neways tell me what'ch think.? and sorry for the late update and for spelling grammer and mistakes ..i try to find as many as i can before posting it but its hard to correct your own work..especailly at 2:20 in the morning. (yawn!) i think ill be going to sleep now

too-dle-loo

Blessings

Babydragon


	6. The Village

Hi there everyone. Today is a very sad day for me... I feel so depressed. My best friend currently known as EVE on has finally left to Edmonton. Gone.

I started crying once we drove away from her house. I never knew she could make me cry like that, i felt torn, she's like my sister and alot of people mistake us for sisters too. Even our old high school teachers...ah the memories. Neways thanx for the reviews everyone. you have lifted my spirits up and i feel a bit better knowing we shall one day see each other again.

In dedication this chapter goes towards EVE (JDC) ...her initials.

Be safe wherever you are now my good friend y que Dios siempre esta en tu corazon.

Inuyasha and company do not belong to me...they belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm just borrowing them in my mind so I can use them for my evil purposes. (mwahahaha)

Warning there is lime in this chapter. Do not read if you are younger than the intended age. Thank you.

Chapter 6 The Village.

"Hey kid...are you sure you know where you're going?", he huffed as he bent low over a branch, "You aren't getting us lost now are you?".

"Nope, don't worry I know the way", the kitsune piped cheerfully.

"Feh. All right then", Inuyasha exclaimed.

He then looked down at the girl in his arms and studied her features carefully. She was badly bruised, but under all of it, her skin seemed soft and supple. Taking in a small sniff of her scent he noticed that there was something odd about it. Although it was quiet nice in how she smelled, he still couldn't help but detect something that made his nose twitch slightly. Almost as if this girl wasn't what she seemed to be.

His analysis of the girl's scent was halted when he heard the low, rising pitch of a wolf's howling in the distance.

The General's ears began to twitch furiously when the distracting source of the sound was almost upon them.

Just then the girl in his arms began to stir lightly and he stopped in mid step just to bend down on one knee and place her gently onto the bare forest floor.

She raised a hand to the side of her face and began to sit up slowly, letting out a small groan as she felt a jolt of pain through her midsection.

"Wha-...what happened", she almost whispered.

His sensitive ears caught the sound of her words easily and he began to feel slightly excited that she was going to be all right.

He stumbled in his words for a bit before he was able to answer her question.

"Y-you passed out after the fight. So I took you away from the place for your own safety", he exhaled gently when he finished. For some reason this girl was making him nervous, but he didn't know why?

"Urgh", the girl growled and then shoved him back hard.

He fell on his bottom roughly, suprised for a moment by her actions and for being caught off guard.

"Hey what the fuck! What's your problem wench I just saved your ass, is this the thanks that I get?", he yelled.

"Stay away from me!", she snapped, and started walking away when she placed an arm around her stomach and doubled over in pain.

"You're hurt stupid so just let me help you out..".

"I said to stay away! I never asked for your help", she winced before she got up and started walking away slowly once more.

"Shippo let us go from here", she stated towards the small kit who was looking confused at the moment.

He nodded and bounced off of the General's shoulders and scrambled towards the girl's side.

Inuyasha got up from his spot abruptly and dusted himself off, mumbling foul curses under his breath.

The warrioress ignored him and placed two fingers on her mouth and blew on them, letting out a small, high pitched whistle bounce off in all directions of the forest.

The howling was almost deafening when the wolves jumped from right behind a thick set of bushes.

Four large, white wolves turned in the General's direction and began to growl dangerously at him.

Inuyasha frowned at the wolves and stood his ground defiantly, daring them to approach him and attack.

"There there now...it is over", she cooed as she nuzzled into one of the nearby wolve's mane.

The wolf with the dark red, piercing eyes snorted disdainfully at the general, and sent a small spray of snot water in his direction.

The general wiped the snot from his chin with a scorn on his face.

'Stupid mutts!'.

"Let us be on our way", the pincess indicated to the wolves as Shippo launched himself onto one and instanlty began to fall asleep. Tired from the day's events.

It was only when she had said this that she began to stumble, her world turning into dark shapes and spinning rapidly around her.

Before she fell completely a pair of strong hands caught her and picked her up bridal style.

"Stupid girl! Can't you see that you're injured and need help. Quit being so damn stubborn".

He heard the wolves growl beside him, but he ignored them for the time being. They may be intimidating, but they would only attack if the girl gave the signal to, and at the moment he doubted she would try to do so.

'Not in her condition anyways...hopefully', he gulped slightly when one of them began to pratically breath hard againts the back of his neck.

"I said to leave me alone! I do not need your help. So just let me go already!", she growled and began to thrash in his arms.

He struggled to keep her calm and was careful not to drop her. But it was growing hard to maintain the stubborn girl in his arms when she kept slapping and punching him in the chest.

"I said to let go!", she yelled before she sunk her fangs into his right arm, bitting down hard.

His right eye twitched for a second or two, before snorting lightly.

'He'd had worse pain...this is just like an irritating bee sting'.

She frowned when he didn't just drop her and it seemed that he wasn't even bothered by her infliction of pain at all.

'What is with this person...is he really just trying to help me?...But why?'

A whine formed in the back of her throat and she carefully pulled out her fangs from the man's arm. She then lapped at the dark blood stain on his red haori, hoping that it would somehow take away the wound that she had made.

Even though the thick material of his haori created a barrier againts his skin, he could still feel the hot, slick wetness from her tongue easily. A jolt of electricity shot through his entire being and he began to feel overheated. After a slight blush had crept through his cheeks, he shrugged his arms and sent the girl wildly clutching at his chest, suprised for a moment that she was going to fall so suddenly.

She growled up at him for the false alarm he had created, 'If he was going to help her than help her, but if he was being stupid then he should just leave her the hell alone', she thought irritably.

She was suprised when he started growling back at her as well.

'Stupid girl, she better not try that again...or else I won't be responsible for my actions', he growled even louder at her till she just huffed and turned her head away from him.

They walked on in silence, her head always nodding to the side, until she would shake her head and resist the sleep that tried to overcome her. The wolves walked close by always keeping a sharp eye on the man that held the warrioress in his arms. Ready to attack if he dared to make a sudden, wrong movement.

Eventually the clearing in front of them began to glow an eerie greenish blue, as the first rays of the sun began to peak over the curves of the mountains in the distance. He didn't know which way he was going as he ventured deeper and deeper into the forest. The wolf carrying Shippo was leading the way, and every so often it kept shooting glances behind him, making sure that the General was following closely behind.

He sighed in relief when his sensitive ears picked up the sloshing of water againts rock ahead of them. All this walking was making him thirsty, and he was sure that the girl in his arms was feeling the same way when she raised her head in the direction of the flowing water.

As they neared the small creek, the wolves gathered around it to lap at the water, while Inuyasha placed the girl gently onto a flat boulder. She was grateful to stretch her legs, but winced slightly when she tried to move from her spot.

That's when he noticed the cut on her thigh reopen, and a new flow of blood creep down her leg and land onto the dry boulder.

'Damn it! She's still badly injured', he thought as he shrugged off his red haori.

Taking one of the sleeves of his long, white juban,...he tore it. He then repeated the process for the other one, leaving him with two long strips of cloth.

She looked at him curiously as he set his red suikan aside and headed for the stream. He bent on one knee and dipped both cloths into the cool, crystal clear water. When they were thoroughly soaked he lifted them out of the water and rung them, where he then folded one of them neatly.

He approached the girl carefully, making his intentions towards her known.

She tensed slightly as he neared her, and even more so when he grabbed her leg, pulling her closer towards him.

She yelped in pain and kicked him unintentionally in the chin. He grunted and let go of her leg quickly, where she then scrambled away from him.

"Get away from me!".

"Look I was only trying to help!", he snapped

He massaged the underside of his chin where she had kicked him.

"Do not bother, I can take care of myself".

"Dumb wench you've been nothing but a pain in the ass this whole time that...I...have...been...trying...to help...you", he stated as he had shot forward, grabbed her by the waist, flipped her onto her stomach, and sat on top of her, facing her legs.

"Urgh! Get off of me!", she shouted, and thrashed her legs wildly, trying to knock down the man currently sitting on her backside.

He grabbed both of her ankles and held them in one large, calloused hand, while he used the other one to clean out her bleeding wound with the cloth.

She began to whimper and yell at the same time as she squirmed furiously underneath him.

"I am going to kill you!", she screamed in vain, making his ears flatten slightly from the high pitchness of it.

After he had finished he deftly tied the other strip of clean cloth around her thigh and tucked the end of it in the wrap. He was careful not to hurt her with his claws the entire time, even though she herself was making it difficult to do so.

When he had finished he lifted himself off of her and flipped her into a sitting position, mindful of her wounds.

"There. Finished. Now are you happy?", he snorted.

"You! How dare you touch me! How dare you even try to come near me...you...", she growled dangerously as she launched herself at him.

She tackled him to the ground, going for his neck with her hands till he flipped her off and over him.

She landed with a thud, but quickly bounded on her feet.

Inuyasha rolled to the side before she could kick him, and he used the opportunity to get up off the ground, using the power in his legs instead of his hands.

He wasn't quick to react as she launched a kick at him in the chest and sent him flying a few feet back into the ground.

When he made impact with the earth a grunt escaped his throat.

The next thing he felt was the weight of a foot on his chest, pushing him down hard into the ground.

"This is where it ends stranger, either you stay away from me or I shall kill you here and now!"

Inuyasha huffed at her threat, "Then do it you stupid, ungrateful woman! I was only trying to return a favor in which you did for me months ago", he snapped.

"I recall no such favor", the warrioress pushed him harder into the ground.

His hands shot around her calf, holding her firmly so she wouldn't try to break his lungs with all of pressure she was applying to his chest.

'Heh!as if this girl could anyways.'

"Oh really? So you mean to say that you weren't the one who lead me out of this forest when I was lost in it", he pratically yelled at her,'Come on I know it was you. There was no mistake about it'.

She gasped,''But you...you were...that person was..."

"A human."

"Yes...so that means that you are..."

"A half-breed", he snorted, cleary annoyed at how he could even admit what he was without his usual gruff againts the slandering title.

For a moment she seemed to be taken back by the word, and he wondered if it was foreign to her, but then suddenly her brows furrowed back in anger.

He expected to be called a lowlife or a filthy waste of time at any moment, but it never came.

The girl just quickly recoiled from his grasp and walked away from him, not even uttering a single word to him.

With great pain, she hoisted herself onto one of the wolves and held on tightly with one hand, while the other circled around her waist.

"Hey where are you going?", Inuyasha yelled, slightly confused by the whole ordeal. 'Why didn't she say anything, and she looked...well repulsed by the word. Did I do something wrong?'

"Listen to me carefully stranger. You should turn around and head back to your town. You have already completed your task, so just leave. I shall not be held responsible for your spilt blood...do I make myself clear?", she called back behind her.

Inuyasha just snorted, "As if anything in these woods can stop me. Personally, I don't give a damn I'm tough and I can take on anything".

She frowned at him, "You have been warned. What you decide from here is your choice. But do not dare to follow after me or I will not hesitate to kill you this time."

With those final words she leaped off into the trees on her wolf, and dissapeared into the deep, thick woods.

He snorted mildly at her retreating form, 'Darn, stupid girl. She's so irritating and impatient. I don't know why I even bothered to help her in the first place'.

He stood in the exact same spot for a couple more minutes longer, contemplating on wether or not going after her and making sure she was okay... or to just screw it and head back to the town.

'She was badly injured...what if she passed out again or encountered a demon that would smell the blood on her and then she would be in deep, serious trouble.'

'Ta hell with her threat', he snorted,'I just have to follow her and make sure the wench will be all right', he thought as he sprinted off into the woods in the exact same direction in which she took off.

'She took care of me the whole time I was here...it is only right I do the same for her.'

'Even if she doesn't want my help...she'll still be safe damnit!'

Her scent was dissapearing as he went deeper and deeper into the forest. Even with her open, cut wounds it was still hard to track down her scent with all the mingling smells of the trees in the air.

After running endlessly into the forest, her scent just dissapeared. Vanished without a trace.

He had to retrace a couple of his steps back and began to sniff the ground curiously, trying to catch the scent of her blood or the wolves that were with her.

It was there, but faint.

A small trace of her blood still lingered onto a leaf. He wouldn't of have caught her scent at all if he hadn't of retraced his steps. The forest was too thick to discern certain smells, even for a full blooded demon. But with his determination and luck, he was able to find her trail once more and sprinted off after her.

"Damnit!", he cursed out loud once more. He had lost her trace once again and was cursing at all of his surroundings for his frustration. After he had run a hand through his hair, he bent on one knee and began to sniff the ground like before.

In all of distraction of trying to sniff out the girl's scent, he didn't realize that he was being watched. He also didn't notice when one of the watchers closed in on him carefully and quietly.

It wasn't until Inuyasha had been hit hard in the back of the head that he realized that he was being surrounded.

But then it was too late, as he swung around once and the figures in front of him blurred and faded into nothing but black.

"He's one of them...just check out his clothing".

"Hmph and he reeks like them as well!''.

"Well whatever. What should we do with him, should we take him to the elders?''

"No it's to early to be bothering the elders, you know how grumpy those old men can get if they're awakened from their sleep at this time of hour".

"Then what do you suggest Kaiboto?"

"Let's just throw him into the centipede's pit. Those things seem to be hungry anyways."

"Pity for him. I just wonder how he even got close to the village anyways?"

"Dunno beats me."

They started dragging the man that smelled of the city towards the centipede's pit, when he suddenly let out an irritated groan.

His whole head felt as though it would explode any minute, he knew he was going to have a killer migrane later.

"Hey he's awake Akio. Let's ask him how he found out about our village before we throw him into the pit", the tall, lanky looking warrior suggested.

The bigger and more stout looking warrior just shrugged his shoulders as he hoisted the man onto his knees roughly.

Inuyasha felt a sharp poke in his side, he wasn't suprised that he was tied up and blindfolded at the moment, he was just pissed at how easily he was captured when he had only let his guard down for a slight moment.

"Hey you, city demon. How is it that you knew where our village was? Who told you?", the stout man snarled.

Inuyasha huffed, "No one told me, I was just following this girl to make sure she was all right".

The tall, lanky warrior scratched his chin thoughtfully,"Was this girl that you mention dressed in the ancient clothing of the high Wolf guardians?"

He was about to answer when the man beside him, that had been poking him with a sharp object earlier, gasped, "Do you mean the princess! What have you done with her you city demon?."

"Calm yourself Kante I am sure the princess is all right".

"Yeah! you know our princess she is the strongest in the village", a tall, well chiseled warrior boasted.

"Then why does this demon exclaim that he was following her? You know as well as I do that no good can come from the blasted city", the one known as Goro, the large and stout man, snarled.

"Yes, but what if he knows the whereabouts of our beloved princess and then we kill him? Then we'll never know where she is being kept and then we'll surely be the laughing stock of the village", the one known as Kaiboto huffed.

All four men scratched their heads thoughtfully as they pondered on whether to kill the man before them or not?

The General couldn't help but get annoyed at the idiots, and he started growling at them to show his irritation.

He could hear one of them cough nervously. 'Damn it can't they just hurry and make up their damn minds. Sheesh! my legs are starting to cramp'.

"Well we could always take him to the elders", one of them suggested when it became too quiet once again.

"Idiot you already suggested that!", one of them snapped.

Then they began to argue amongst themselves once again.

"Someone kill me please", Inuyasha moaned when they started talking about the exact same things as they had a few moments ago. While they were distracted though, he began to slice off the ropes that were bound againts his wrists with the sharp edge of one of his claws.

The four men then suddenly stopped talking all at once and Inuyasha could hear them shuffling madly around him.

"Princess you're back!", they all exclaimed excitedly.

The princess froze in midstep, and a small, cold shiver ran down her spine.

"Explain to me why this stranger is in the village!'', she demanded.

The men looked at each other nervously, hoping one of them would at least have the guts to speak up.

"Well you see...we um, uh," Goro, the big and stout one began.

The princess growled, sending them all taking a step back. She then walked foward and pulled off the cloth that had prevented him from seeing anything.

His heart skipped a beat when his eyes landed on the girl dressed in white before him.

'He knew she was the one that had helped him out of the forests, but for her to be the princess...he just couldn't believe it.'

"You're the princess?", he asked, voicing his disbelief.

She frowned and ignored his question,"Did I not advise you to not follow me. Just what are you doing here?", she snapped.

He frowned at her himself, " What do you mean what am I doing here. Isn't it obvious! I'm being held againts my will by a bunch of idiots that can't even make up their own minds in how to kill me. But I'm guessing that they are definately favoring the centipede's pit with the rate they're going".

"You deserve such a fate for having followed after me here".

"Keh! You think a bunch of mere worms will be able to stop me. Think again girl...you just don't know who you're dealing with", he snarled as he hacked at the remaining ropes that bound him and sprung up from the ground to come face to face with the girl.

The four warriors immediantly sprung into action and raised their spears in the air, ready to attack at the demon who dare to approach the princess.

The princess smirked as she stood her ground, not in the least bit intimidated by the hanyou before her.

"You have courage that I agree with. But it still does not excuse the fact that you followed me here".

"Like I said it wouldn't of happened if your men hadn't of captured me. I only planned on going as far as to see that you were safe".

The princess couldn't help but smile at that, 'he had risked his very own life...just to make sure that I was okay'.

Her smile had caught him off guard slightly. Even though there was very little light out, he could still see that enchanting smile of hers with his enhanced vision.

"Well then, because you did not heed my warning, all I could say for now is that you do not leave this village...until it is decided of what is to become of your fate."

"And what if I don't agree to your terms? What makes you think that I can't just simply escape from here".

The princess smirked slightly, "Do not agree?...then you can just suffer with the so called 'worms'...and as for trying to escape from here, do not count on it. I shall hunt you down myself and kill you off before you even make it back to that town of yours. Do I make myself clear stranger".

He snorted, "Oh yeah...crystal", he replied sarcastically.

"Good...then I advise that you rest for now. Your fate will be decided upon after the sun in the sky is high, and who knows what you may have to go through then", and with that she turned and started walking away.

"Take him to Bankotsu...he shall know what to do with him'', she called out before she rounded a hut and dissapeared.

The four warriors nodded and pushed him slightly to get him moving in a certain direction into the village.

'Just what the hell have I gotten myself into this time?'

"This can turn to our benefit my love", the dark haired woman, with bruises on her once unblemished face, cooed.

"Indeed it can, and in time that treasure shall be ours Tsubaki".

The woman grinned playfully, "My cousin believes that we are on this expedition for his benefit. But the fool doesn't know our intentions".

The man beside her wore a dark cloak, and a set of dark purple hakama pants, with a matching coloured haori. His hair was long, and slighty curly, which he kept tied with a band at the base of his neck. The dark eyes that looked deep into the woman before him, showed a glint of mystery and lust.

"You, my little pet, are indeed evil.", he smirked playfully as he moved closer to her on her bed.

"Only when I'm around you my darling", she gave him a toothy grin.

He chuckled boyishly as one of his long fingered hands moved closer to her voiet coloured robes.

"Come here my little pet", he whispered hungrily into her ear.

She made a small moan when he bit the bottom of her earlobe and pulled it with his teeth gently.

"Don't tease", she slapped him hard on the chest.

He stopped with what he was doing and stared down into her eyes, "Then what is it that you want me to do to you..my pet?".

She licked her lips hungrily and indicated with her eyes towards the bottom of her own robe.

He fought the urge to shiver in disgust when he took the hint of what her intentions were.

'Until I can get this woman to do my bidding, I shall have to keep playing the fool.', he took a deep breath after he untied the sash to her robe.

Little bumps aligned themselves on the ghostly, paled coloured skin when it became exposed to the chilly air.

"Hurry up, its been weeks since I've had a good one and I'm desperate!", she huffed.

"Patience my pet. Patience.", he hooked his long fingers on the sides of her pale coloured underwear string and pulled them down.

A mess of dark curls arose from behind the garment and he took his sweet, agonizing time to pull off the rest of the remaining underwear down her legs, and over her toes.

"Damnit can't you go any faster", she hissed as she bucked herself into the air, indicating her impatience.

The man that was slowly torturing her, sighed as he bent his head in between her legs.

'The things that I have to do for this damn woman!'

Having enough of his dawdling, she hooked his neck with the back of her heels and brought him foward to her hot, dripping want.

He nearly gagged when his face was forcibly pushed into the mess of curls, and even more so when she dug her heels into his back, hard. Tsubaki ignored his clumsy struggling and let her head fall back in ecstacy at the pleasurable feeling of having him in between her legs.

She moaned hard and loud when the man in between her legs started complying with her terms.

'I swear I shall kill this bitch if she doesn't give me what I want this time. It is so fucken frustrating to only have to pleasure her...while my needs go unattended.', he thought miserably.

Tsubaki gave out one final last scream when he hit her most sensitive spot and sent her reeling in waves, as she gasped through her orgasm.

"Oh fuck! That was lovely", she grinned lazily.

"Of course. But it would of been much more better if I was inside you, my pet."

Tsubaki grinned playfully as she reached out and grabbed at the growing lump in between his legs.

"You know better than I do that if this goes wrong...I can end up pregnant", se raised one of her eyebrows playfully.

"It never hurts to try", he gasped at the incredible feeling of her hand working at his growing hardness.

"You are naughty", she giggled.

In answer to her statement, he slapped her bottom playfully.

She squealed and tackled him , positioning herself over his lean, muscled body.

"I will agree to let you enter me on one condition", she bucked into his growing hardness

He hissed at the feeling of her wetness so close to his hard erection. "Name it! Anything you ask for damnit!", he pratically yelled in anger.

"Good", she smirked inwardly at the reaction she was able to create in this man before her. "Then tell me more about this treasure I am wasting all of my time in these damn forests for. Surely you can't be serious that this gold can grant any wish it's master desires".

The man frowned slightly for a second until his features turned into playfullness once more.

"Is that all you ask of me?"

"There is something else that you're hiding from me now aren't you...about this damn treasure?"

"I have told you everything that I know. I discovered the treasure long ago when I so happened to encounter their village. I knew from the moment that I had spotted it over fifteen years ago, that it was the one that had gone missing. Before that woman Midoriko ran off with the blasted demon Raikon. Since then I have tried to convince the emperor into granting me access into these lands once more in search for the treasure. But I couldn't of have done it without you and your position in the emperor's courts...my little pet. Because of you I was able to come back here and search for the treasure once more", he grinned.

Tsubaki snorted, "And what exactly does this gold look like?".

"You'll know it when you see it. I can assure you of that because it is the brightest treasure that you have ever seen or owned".

Tsubaki smiled evilly, "Hm...you don't say. I could use a rare piece of jewellery like that amongst my collection".

He resisted the urge to slap her face for being such a spoiled brat and an idiot.

'Keep your temper in check or this thing will just slip out of your control'

"Yes...well, what will your cousin say if he sees you using his treasure as a piece of jewellery?"

"I thought we agreed that we weren't going to tell my idiot cousin, the emperor, our secret little plans?", she huffed, making her breasts bounce playfully.

He shrugged his shoulders, mildly distracted with the set of soft tissue before him. "Not if you're going to use it for some stupid piece of jewellery".

She pouted her lips,"Do not be angry my love...I was only teasing. Besides I know when to put something to good use when I see it", she squeezed his chin playfully.

"That's a good little pet. Now...did you not agree to my terms if I agreed to yours?".

Tsubaki threw back her head in laughter, "So has that been on your mind all night?. Hm...it explains why you have finally shown up until now", she bucked into him, earning a small groan from his lips.

"Damn woman...I just want to fuck with you so bad tonight", he hissed pleasurably.

Tsubaki let her robes slip of her shoulder and began to undress him, slowly and as agonizing as he did to her.

He grabbed her hand roughly, when she began to untie the string to his pants, and pulled her onto the bed. "Don't make me wait", he sneered as he quickly got onto his knees, yanked the ties to his pants off and pulled them down. She gasped when he grabbed her legs roughly and spread them wide and apart.

"Oh yes! I love it when you're like this my love", she panted as he placed himself at her entrance.

He pratically glared down into her dark orbs, never once breaking eye contact with her as he pushed himself inside her hard.

She let out a loud scream of pleasure as he steadied himself inside her, before he lost it.

He set off at a fast pace, roughly grunting as he slammed inside of her over and over.

After just a few minutes had passed, he hunched over as the first spasm coursed through him, and he fought madly to stay in control for a bit longer.

Tsubaki groaned under him, not of pleasure, but of dissapointment as he collapsed on top of her, breathing hard.

"Oh that was no fun", she huffed, pushing him off of her body.

"Sorry...just give me a second here to catch my breath and then...we'll try again", he huffed.

Tsubaki snorted in an unlady like manner and got up from her bed hastily.

"I got more important things to do today than to screw around with you", she snapped.

"Wait my pet, I'm sure that if we tried again I will hold out much longer, so don't leave yet", he whined.

"Save it!', she stormed off to her dresser and pulled out a dazzling, dark blue yukata and a lighter blue sash to tie around her waist.

Taking the clothes she began to dress hastily, all the while ignoring the man's calling back towards the bed.

He sighed as he got up from the bed and drapped his arms around her form and brought her closer to his chest.

"You were just so damn good that I couldn't help it", he whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

He grinned when he noticed the reaction he got out of her, 'Good now I have you were I want you'.

"You know, maybe when we get the treasure you ought to use it to last longer in bed", she snapped, irritated at how easily he could pursue her to do his bidding.

He chuckled the same boyish laughter that sent her knees shaking.

'Oh I'll use the the treasure all right...but certainly not for that', he thought as he pulled off her yukata and had her bare naked form before him once more.

"Let's go try again", he nipped at her earlobe with his teeth, while his long fingered hands grabbed roughly at her small, but still handfull shaped breasts.

"Oh...", she moaned,"You certainly are naughty...Onigumo".

Okay we now know who Tsubaki is working with here and its definately someone who is related to Naraku. Onigumo.!!

I just had this chapter written out so long ago that when I reread over my old work I was slightly dissapointed with it. This scene with Tsubaki and Onigumo is suppose to be like a 'oh I see' type of thing. But it didn't quiet go that way in my original work...plus there was also a scene after this were Miroku (hehhehe) is watching these two and hears everything they have just said. Then he gets disgusted by Onigumo's lack of control, and then he thinks of Sango's tight tush.

I wanted to write that part because I thought it was funny, but more so I rewrote this scene because I had to get some things straight with my characters. There will be more things that are discovered as we get into the story, but for now I shall leave all of you wonderful readers in suspense...because that is my specialty!!(mwuahhahahah) - a purely evil laughter echos through the room as she passes out on the floor from insanity. (Yes...I am quiet a sad little one).

Till next time.

Blessings

Babydragon


	7. The People

I've recieved lots of great feedback and reviews so far. Sorry for the prolonged update. I've been really busy with work. Yesterday was my last day and I was so sad at leaving, I had made so many friends there that I both respected and admired, as well as new skills that I learned that may come in handy for future basis. Bu at the same time I'm kinda happy that I'm not working there anymore, it was nice yes, but I prefer to move on to other things now and I want to learn new experiences and everything. So for all of you speciall ppls who have waited patiently for my updates I'll try to get 2-3 chapters done this week. Love ya all..and enough with the chit chat so on with the story!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha..Rumiko the very rich woman does.

Me?...Im dirt poor and I pay for alot of things so please do not sue...because in all there wont be much to sue for...maybe four or five dollars...but i need it for my ice cream and noodles (mmmm). So in the end there's not much money at all to take from me.(sigh). I just use Inuyasha and Co for my evil purposes...(strikes a Doctor Evil pose..with pinky near the mouth). for fun. Oh and I don't own any game concepts either. I'm just a regular person with a passion for random sports.

Chapter 7 The People.

"I swear if you do that one more time I'll rip your head off!", the tall general, with moonlight kissed hair, spat.

The warrior dressed in black hakama pants, and a muscle bound shirt, snorted as he jabbed at the man, who threatened him, in the side with the dull end of the spear once more.

Inuyasha growled in warning at the big and stout man's direction before he rounded up on him and punched him squarely in the jaw.

The man let out a grunt of distressed pain while he spun with the punch, and flew back into the ground, face first.

Inuyasha huffed in anger a couple times before the remaining warriors surrounded on him and grabbed each one of his limbs, to prevent further damage on the man lying unconcious on the ground.

"Get the hell off me you bastards!", Inuyasha roared, before one of the warriors successfully bonded his arms together with thick rope.

He wrestled with the men for a couple of minutes till he heard a roaring laughter from behind him, which made everyone stop in their actions and turn to the imposing sound.

A tall and well built warrior dressed in a pair of white hakama pants and a very short sleeved white shirt, that showed off his well toned bisceps, was bent over in laughter.He slapped the side of his leg a couple times to regain control before he turned his attention to the audience in front of him.

There was a glint in his dark coloured eyes as they landed on the tall foreigner before him.

This man had a strong aura about him, and Inuyasha could tell that he held a strong air of authority when the men around him stiffened in order ready poses.

"Bankotsu, I have direct orders form the princess herself that requires your attention", the tall lanky looking warrior held his head high in a dignified pose.

The man named Bankotsu cocked his head to the side while his face took on a look of amusement, "And just what were those orders?", he scratched the back of his neck casually.

"That we bring you this imposter...and that you would know what to do with him."

"Really?'', he looked at the sky, interested more in the stars above him than the man before him.

"Yes, and that we leave him in your custody".

There was an awkward silence for a long stretch of time before the man in white clothing turned his attention back to the group of men holding the captive roughly by the arms.

"Just what exactly has he done anyways?", he finally asked, with a hint of boredom etched into his tone.

"He uh...well he happened by close to our village when he was following the princess."

"Yeah and then he was sentenced to remain here until it was decided tomorrow of what was to become of him", another warrior added.

"I see...", Bankotsu clicked his tongue, before he dug his hands into his pockets. He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds looking pensive and in deep thought.

Inuyasha was getting slightly annoyed by the man's odd behavior, he was just taking too damn long and at the moment he felt pissed off enough to go over to the man and knock him out as well.

He was about to make his mental image of the man being knocked out cold a reality, when the warrior in white opened his eyes once more and nodded firmly.

"All right. If the princess wants me to take this man into my custody then I guess I will".

Inuyasha snorted, ' Idiot, he just finally had enough brain to make that decision or what?'

"You can cut off his ropes, I'm sure he won't be much of a challenge if he tries to attempt anything", Bankotsu grinned.

The three warriors dressed in black blinked hard a couple times, while they looked at each other in concern for a moment. They came to a silent conclusion with each other and shrugged as one of them took out a small blade from his side and cut the imposter's ropes in a single slice.

Inuyasha cocked his wrists a bit to get the blood rushing into them back to normal, before he turned a threatening glare at the man they called Bankotsu.

"Want to rephrase that", he growled.

The warrior just shrugged and leaned againts a nearby tree casually.

"Don't think of starting anything stupid here pal...you'll only get yourself killed".

Inuyasha huffed, "What makes you think I'm so easy to take down", he cracked his knuckles by bending his hand into a fist.

Bankotsu just yawned and scratched the back of his neck casually once more.

"Look, it's too damn early in the morning to start a fight. We'll only make a rucus, make the people pissed off, and then we'll be in a big trouble. So let's just let bygones be bygones and go get some rest."

The general's dark glare turned into a frown of suspicion.

"Look...it's up to you all right. You can follow me and I'll show you a place where you can stay. Or you can sleep out here where anything can come and get you. It's your choice", with that Bankotsu turned and began to walk away from the group.

"Uh...Bankotsu...what about Goro", the tall, lanky warrior known as Akio indicated at the man lying unconscioulsy on the ground.

"Beats me. The guy did tell him to cut it out and he didn't listen. If you ask me he deserved what was coming to him", the white dressed warrior shrugged casually.

"You guys decide what to do with him...not me", he added before he walked off.

Inuyasha was at a loss, ' just why in the hell would this guy say that...what's up with him'. Not bothering to think on it further as the small throbbing in the back of his head began to increase in its pain slightly, he just headed off into the direction that the warrior called Bankotsu had left.

It was silent in the village, Inuyasha contemplated as he passed by many unlit huts.

They didn't seem like any ordinary huts that he had ever seen in his travels before. They looked sort of better built, and more comftorable for larger families.

He didn't take time to completely observe his surroundings, instead his attention was focused on the warrior dressed in white before him. There was something odd about him, and he just couldn't quiet place what it was exactly that made him so irritated about the man walking so casually.

"This is where you'll stay for now", the warrior pointed with his finger to a small, but not too bad in shape, hut.

Inuyasha snapped out of his own little world and turned his attention to the place where he would be staying.

"There are some mats inside and a couple blankets. You'll be fine for tonight so you better get to sleep now. Who knows what the elders may decide tomorrow".

"The elders?", Inuyasha asked curiously.

"Yeah a group of old guys that decide all the rules around here...and if I know them, they're not going to like the fact that our princess had left this village in the first place, and brought you along with her", Bankotsu turned his bored features into a mask of worry.

"Hold on a minute...are you telling me that she might get in trouble for having left to go and get herself almost killed by Tsubaki and her men? Damnit, she's hurt! They can't possibly...",

"She went to go fight with that blasted woman?", Bankotsu hissed.

Inuyasha stopped in midsentence and had a deep sinking feeling when he realized that maybe the girl had not told anyone what her intentions had been. ' Maybe she did it all because she knew what she was getting into. Maybe I've said too much".

The warrior then huffed and scratched at the back of his neck hard, only to leave red scratches over his tanned skin.

"Forget it...don't even mention that part to the elders if they ask you. It will only cause her trouble ya hear?"

"Whatever", Inuyasha crossed his arms stubbornly. He felt somewhat relieved that the guy wasn't going to get her into trouble. Not that he really cared, but he didn't want to be the cause of someone else's problems.

Bankotsu just yawned once more before he turned and left the General, heading towards his own hut just a couple of blocks down.

With an irritated snort, Inuyasha went inside the the hut and examined the inside carefully.

He located a fresh futon on the floor in the corner, right next to a window covered by a flap of bamboo reeds.

He sighed as he settled onto the mat. He could feel all of the days exertion's release out of his body like a rush of air. He didn't know what to expect of the day's coming, but whatever it was...he just didn't feel any fear or anything in relation to tremor. He felt...calm for some reason. If anything he just had a deep feeling in his gut that these people here wouldn't kill him...not when all he did was make sure that their princess was all right.

As an image of the girl swam before him in the front of his mind, he too knew that this girl wouldn't want to order him dead too. But then again they might not let him go either. Whatever punishment they had in store for him...he would take it. He was one who could face danger and never back down for any reason. No matter what.

With that last thought he let his mind drift to random thoughts, too blurry to grasp onto in his state of half conciousness, and yet too focused on to let sleep to completely overwhelm him.

This is the way how he always slept.

Not only to stay alert in case of any nearby danger in which he would have to protect his life, but also because of his blood.

It was unlike any other demon's blood. His father was once a great Inu Youkai, whom was above all, nothing short of powerful.

And he had inherited his father's strong blood...even if it was only half of it.

The only nights in which he let sleep truly oversome him, was on the night of the new moon and the cycle that followed it for three days.

But that was all.

He wasn't sure how long he stayed in his half state of unconciousness. It must of been only a couple of hours when he closed his eyes, and soon enough he started to hear people moving about outside, and he noticed that there was light protruding from the fine lines of the bamboo flap that hung over the window.

He stretched his tense muscles before he got up from his futon, and as he was cracking every bone in his arm, he then noticed that his arms were bare. Last night came flooding back to him as he remembered that he had ripped his favourite white juban, but what was worse was that his traditional haori was missing.

'I'm such an idiot! I must of forgotten it back in the woods', he fumed silently. It was the only heirloom his mother had left for him. Sesshomaru was the one who had given it to him when he had passed all of his training in the imperial army.

But his mother had left it behind...for him.

He felt slightly annoyed that he had kept his father's sword securely by his side throughout the entire ordeal, even when they had bound and gagged him.

But not his mother's heirloom.

'I'll just have to go and find it then', he shrugged, 'Hopefully it will still be there by the creek where I had left it'.

After making his mind up in retrieving the red garment before anyone realized that he was leaving the village, he quietly opened the wooden shoji doors at the entrance and cautiously walked far from the opposite direction in which he saw the warrior head in.

He knew it was a bad idea to leave the village, they had warned him that it was futile. But damn it all, there was no one around! How the hell would they even know if he escaped or not? What kind of guard would leave his hostage unattended?

He snorted disdainfully, 'Some threat!'

"Hey you there!"

Inuyasha was mildly distracted with his unexplained situation when he had heard someone yell from behind him.

'Well it's about time if you ask me. I was beggining to think if these bastards even remembered I even existed'.

"Hey you. Guy!", the low pitched, masculine voice breathed out heavily, as if he had been running for a while.

"Fine then I'll go back to the damn hut then", he half growled as he turned to face the warrior who had spotted him.

His brow furrowed in confusion when he spotted a young man dressed in brown clothing, instead of black, and who looked about a year or two younger than himself.

"Huh, what are you talking about guy? I didn't ask you to go back to your hut. I was just wondering if you wanted to come join our game? We're one player short and we're loosing badly", he stated, looking at the man before him oddly.

Inuyasha snorted, "You're kidding me right?", he asked in disbelief. Never in his life had he been asked by a total stranger to participate in a game. Not even in his youthfull days when children would often invent games that involved alot of of them to play together.

"No I'm not. Um...are you new or something cause you don't look familiar and believe me I know almost everyone here".

Inuyasha slightly stiffened, 'Now what if I say anything they'll definately know I'm trying to leave this place and then I'll get busted'.

He looked at the young man before him, noticing for the first time that he had really dark eyes and catlike features.

'In fact', he thought as Inuyasha took a small sniff of the kid, 'He's a cat youkai! What the hell is going on here?'

"Well...", the kid continued to probe at the non responding general.

"I uh..", Inuyasha began.

"Look if you think I'm going to bite you because you're part dog, then think again. I just want to know if you want to help us win this game. You look like you're tough and I need someone like you on my team. So how about it?"

"I guess", Inuyasha scratched his head in confusion. 'Guess my haori will have to wait'.

"All right!'', the young man cheered before he pushed a confused Inuyasha all the way to a vast, open, lush green field.

There was a small group of men settled on one side of the field looking beat, and tired. While the other group on the other far side, looked as if they had won some kind of challenge.

"Hey Mokuba who's the guy? Is he new around here?", a tall, but slightly thick looking teen as if he had one too many plates of food, walked up to the cat youkai with an air of confidence.

"I don't know...hey what's your name guy", the cat youkai poked the tall, silver haired man next to him in the ribs.

The general snorted before he crossed his arms defiantly, noticing the challenging look the confident teen was giving him. "The name's Inuyasha".

"Ha! Another loser for me to beat", the big bellied teen slapped his thigh as he doubled over in laughter.

"I wouldn't count on it kid. Im not so easy to beat", the general growled in warning.

"Is that so...then fine. Mokuba you're on. Let's just see what this new guy can do", with that the big bellied teen left with a smirking grin stretching across his face, from ear to ear.

"That guy there is Hanzo and he's the best player in all the village. Don't let his size fool you, he's actually pretty damn fast for a big guy like him".

The general snorted, "And I should be worried because?"

The cat youkai gave him a small smirk, "And do you have a plan that involves bringing this guy down? Please do share".

"Heh, I don't exactly have a plan, but I do know that the word loser is not on my list of vocabluary".

The cat youkai's grin grew even wider, resembing that of the big bellied Hanzo's.

"I see...well then it's a good thing that you're on my team then", and with that they walked over to the end of the field to brighten up the spirits of the dreary looking group of young men.

"Come on you guys cheer up. Look who I've brought to help us", the one called Mokuba chirped.

The group of young men looked up at the general with weary stares and then back down.

"Are you sure he knows how to play...the last time you brought someone we ended up loosing...remember", a teen with brown, long and disoriented hair whined.

"Yeah, but this time I know we'll win let's just give him a chance and see what happens. Besides he looks pretty tough!", Mokuba pointed out to the muscular biceps on the general's arm.

"Fine", another with dark hair added.

The five men got up from the spots of where they had been sitting on the grass, and heading back into the field with the same depressing attitude as before.

"Okay let's play", Hanzo shouted with excitement when his team ran foward, kicking a ball amongst themselves back and forth.

Inuyasha watched with interest when the ball came towards him. He had no idea whatsoever in what to do, and he wasn't even sure if he was suppose to let them pass him by like that, with the ball towards their side of the field.

"Guy!", Mokuba deftly shouted, "You're not suppose to let the other team near our posts. You see those two wooden poles over there", he pointed to two large poles sticking out of the ground with a reasonable amount of space in between. "Try to take the ball away from the other team before they even get near our goal, you can use your feet or head, but don't touch the ball with your hands all right?".

Inuyasha nodded. Now he was starting to understand the concept of the game...well just a little.

A big smirk formed across his features as the opposing team came towards him once more with the ball flying straight at him.

'Oh yeah...now I'm definately getting the hang of this game'.

"Mokuba I'll get you next time ya hear! Next time! I won't be easy to beat the next time we meet!", the large bellied Hanzo yelled defiantly, although he was smirking the entire time he was making his threat.

Mokuba and the rest of the team were whooping and giving each other friendly slaps on the shoulder.

"This is the first game we've ever won Guy and it's all thanks to you."

"Yeah where did you learn to play like that, you're a pro".

"Man you better be on OUR team all the time Guy, cause there's no way we're letting the best player go on Hanzo's team. No way!".

Inuyasha had been scratching the back of his head throughout the entire time they were giving him compliments. He wasn't really use to people complimenting him, especially since he has never really actually been given a chance to show others his skills.

"Thanks", he smirked. It actually felt really good to be liked and to have a sense of belonging. Never in his whole life had he ever been this carefree and had this much, well...fun?

"Nice job there Guy!", Mokuba interrupted his thoughts."You can seriously run alot faster than that Hanzo guy for sure, and have alot of a better aim than their team has."

"Heh, it was easy", he shrugged. But deep down he felt cocky and proud.

"Really? Aw man then you have gotta come to our other game next week. You see we always do these type of random games that we make up, just to sharpen our hunting skills", the long, disoriented Mokuba explained.

"This one we so happen to call foot field ball", he let the concept sink in before he continued, "Because we're usually playing with our feet, in a field and with a ball", he cackled loudly at his own humour.

Another disoriented hair looking young man also jumped up excitedly behind, wanting to make his own little realization speech to the newcomer. "And this other game we play often is called Sacks and Hoops. That game we also use to sharpen our hunting skills with aiming. We use these little sacks filled with seeds and try to throw them into these bins. It's a pretty dull game, so we're trying to improve the rules and the strategies so it could become as interesting as our current game Foot Field Ball."

Inuyasha gave the young man next to him a weary look.

"It's a working process", the man shrugged his shoulders and grinned playfully.

"So guy do you just want to hang with us today then?", Mokuba chirped. "We're going fishing and you can join us if you want to?"

'Great, I could use this opportunity to get my haori back'.

"Fine by me. I got nothing better to do", the general shrugged casually.

The small group started walking across the field, their strides filled with pride over their day's winning. Inuyasha felt surreal and carefree the entire time, feeling as if he belonged.

'Is this what it feels like...to have fun and meet people who don't look down on you for what you are?'.

Although he did have two best friends that had never looked down on him before. Here was this group of young men whom also accepted him as he was.

He was in serious, deep thought the entire time the group made their way into the village. He didn't even notice the small crowd that had been gathering in the middle of the village.

"She's back. Our princess is back", one of the disoriented hair looking youths shouted excitedly.

"I told you Hiboshi that she wasn't kidnapped. She was probably out in the forests like she usually does all the time".

"Mokuba shut up, don't tell me that you weren't worried for her last night either. The guy was pratically crying when they sent us to search for her", the one named Hiboshi turned to Inuyasha.

"Hey was not! I knew the entire time that she was safe she is the princess after all. If she can kick anyone's butt, then I'm sure she can take care of herself.", he crossed his arms stubbornly, fighting off the blush that was staining his lightly tanned cheeks.

'So she just left without telling anyone that she was going to sacrafice her life in order to stop Tsubaki', Inuyasha mentally contemplated.

"Honestly I don't see what the big fuss is...she just wasn't there last night when old Lady Kaede went into her rooms. I bet she was out on one of those special missions she usually does anyways".

"Yeah, but look at all those bruises she's got", a pudgy, and short looking young man whispered.

"Prooves she can definately take care of herself", Mokuba indicated.

The others nodded their heads in agreement, while Inuyasha looked deep in thought.

'These villagers really care for the girl. They were even worried about her to the point of sending people out to search for her.'

"Hey Mokuba are you going to battle her anytime soon like ya always said you would", the pudgy young man whispered.

Mokuba turned a deep shade of red and tried to hide his burning cheeks away from the other men who were currently teasing him.

"Battle?", Inuyasha frowned in confusion, although he doubted that anyone had heard him while in their midst of teasing the messy haired young adult.

"Oh look she's looking our way I think. Oh Mokuba! I think she sees your red face", the one named Hiboshi teased.

Currently enough the one whom they were secretly talking about was making her way towards the group.

Mokuba pratically fainted out of nervousness, while the others teased him endlessly.

Inuyasha stared in awe at the girl that was coming towards them. Walking elegantly and yet with determination towards them. She was dressed in a beautiful lilac coloured cheongsam dress, that ended an inch past her calves. There was aslo a slit on her right side starting about at the top of her knee and ending with the length of the dress . The material was outlined in a deep voilet colour near the top neck area , and had a darker shade of sakura petals uniquely scattered across the velvety, rich cloth. She held a bouquet of flowers all a rich, deep colour of their own in her arms. As she grew closer, Inuyasha noticed that she wore the same cloak that she had worn during last night's commotion. What he also noticed was that she wore the same captivating, and mysterious mask. The one with the large, stunning pair of eyes made from what seemed like pieces of adamant, sparkling with different colours with every ray of the sun reflecting off of it.

It was alluring and very eye catching he had to admit. He felt himself pulled into them, bewitched by their beautiful colours when she was passing by the small group of young men.

He gulped when she pratically stopped a couple of feet in front of him.

"I wish to speak with you alone stranger. Care to follow me?", she indicated towards a simple path towards a remote area.

He nodded and didn't even look back to the group of young men he had made plans earlier with to go fishing. But he did hear them grumble about 'how lucky he was to be alone with the beautiful princess'. Rolling his eyes slightly, he then followed after her quietly, deep in thought about what was to happen next.

'They must of decided my fate already', he mused, as he observed her delicate form. 'She looks alot more calmer today than she did last night. But she's still badly bruised', he frowned, not liking one bit that the dark blotches on her ivory coloured skin stood out too much.

She kept silent the entire time they walked towards a destination only she had knowledge about. The only indication of communication between them were the occasional smiles she would give to every villager that passed by, or a small wave in return. But he kept silent and still during the whole process, while it bothered the heck out of him when he really had alot of questions to ask her.

They had been walking for only a couple of minutes and it seemed endless with where they were going. He finally began to get irritated with the awkward silence between the two of them and decided to ask a question even if it sounded lame.

"Where are we going anyways?", he crossed his arms stubbornly.

She heard him, this he knew of for sure because she had turned her head slightly towards him and then turned back to face in front of her, but she kept silent and decided not to answer his question.

"I see...so you've decided to give me the silent treatment again huh? Just great!", he mumbled annoyed at the fact that she wouldn't even respond to a simple enough question.

There was a small clearing ahead of them with a tiny slope to one side. Underneath the slope was a beautiful pond that had a couple of birds floating lazily on top of the crystal clear water.

The princess walked straight towards an enourmous weeping willow and sat underneath the cool shade that the tree provided.

She indicated with her hand for the general to sit next to her in the lush green grass when he just stood there pratically in a daze as he took in the scene's marvelous beauty.

He frowned slightly before he sat in the grass a mere couple feet away. Not far away enough to call it rude, but enough to give each of them their own personal space.

They took a moment of their own to marvel at the magestic nature around them before they spoke on any important matters that invaded their minds.

"Tell me stranger do you wish for me to speak first, or would you rather have your own questions answered beforehand?"

"Heh, don't matter to me", he snorted.

"Stranger, I am not trying to be difficult here. We have an important matter on our hands now and I would appreciate it if you could cooperate here with me", she replied sternly.

"What important matter that I need to cooperate with? Oh wait you mean the one about my death from trying to make sure you were okay", he half growled.

She pursed her lips and was about to make a smart comment herself when she sighed and looked towards the pond instead.

"Look, as I have said before your help was not needed in the first place. But!", she interrupted him when it looked as if he was about to reply to her statement, "I really do appreciate with what you have done for me. The elders were even suprised at how you had risked your life in order to save mine, and because of that they are allowing you to live on one condition".

"And what is this condition?", he frowned, not liking were this was going.

"That you are to remain here and look for this so called treasure that Tsubaki herself is looking for."

"Huh? What do you mean by that...I thought you guys had it hidden around here somewhere."

"No. Unfortunately, I am afraid we do not. My people know not what this woman Tsubaki is looking for something, but nobody in this village even has a clue to what exactly the treasure is", she frowned and turned to face him with her dazzling, adamant, masked eyes.

"We have suffered a great deal for years now because of this woman's persistance with the treasure. She has killed many friends and family, just because of something she says exist within my forests".

Inuyasha didn't respond to her statement so she kept going.

"We are but simple people here in this village. If something so small as a treasure could cause such devestating effects to those whom we care for...then we would gladly give up such a thing without a second thought", she took a moment to collect herself before she could turn back to the stranger sitting next to her.

'Even after so many years...it still breaks my heart to think of you mama and papa'.

"Stranger...I ask of you to please help us out, help my people".

"Me, but...you said that you don't even have this treasure that Tsubaki is looking for, how am I going to find it?".

"You are the only one with a knowledge of the treasure. Only you know exactly what it is that she is looking for."

The General sighed, "All right...I'll do it. I'll look for this treasure then. I may not be exactly sure where to start looking, but I'll give it a shot", he frowned at himself for allowing his cheeks to turn a dark shade of red.

'Why the hell should I be so embarassed about this...I don't even care! I'm doing it for my own benefit, so I can get the hell out of this place without getting my head cut off.'

"Then may it be so. You shall remain here in this village until you find the treasure which Tsubaki seeks", she stated as she picked up her beautiful bouquet of flowers, that had been currently laying by her side on the grass, and got up from where she had been sitting near the trunk of the willow tree.

She dusted herself off and then began to walk away from general, not bothering to even mention a farwell bidding towards him.

"Wait! Is that all you are going to say to me, what about an explanation of what's going to happen to me?", he got up abruptly and began to march behind her, furious at the fact that she was being so selfish at the moment.

"I have already explained it to you stranger...that you are to remain here in this village and look for the treasure", she stated as a matter of factly.

"Yeah but...".

"Listen stranger the elders in this village believe that your heart is not as tainted as Tsubaki's is, and I agree with them. But you still stink of city filth, and your stench is making me sick. So stay away from me stranger!", she growled at him before she huffed and walked away. Clearly pissed.

He was so taken back by her sudden attitude, that it took him almost a full minute to respond to the retreating princess, walking away with such determination.

"Hah! Well you don't exactly smell too nice either. In fact you smell awful!", he yelled angrily.

Before she had dissapeared from his line of vision she turned around and stuck her tongue out at him, and then continued walking away.

"Stupid girl", he fumed under his breath. He waited a couple of minutes, just to make sure that she was really gone, and then took a good sniff of himself.

"Phew", he nearly choked on his own scent. It may not be powerful to a human's nose, but when someone's nose was as extra sensitive as his, damn! everything was just overwhelming.

"I really do need a bath", he gaged, 'must of been all of that running that I've been doing lately', he frowned.

'She was right I do reek...and her, well she smelled really nice like rose petals and honeysuckle.'

"Ha! who am I kidding. That little bitch smelled like a garden full of weeds...stupid wench", he huffed as he stormed back towards the village.

To get a decent bath.

It took him a while to fill up the wooden tub with water, considering they didn't have any running water like back at home. The process might have made him sweat more, but as he sat back againts the tub's rim a slow, lazy grin twitched at the corner of his mouth.

'This feels so good and it was worth the effort', he sighed. 'Stupid girl! Your stench makes me sick she says. Well I'll give her something to complain about, how about I throw a nice pile of mud at her and then we'll see who really stinks', he frowned. It was a good idea, but the thought of marring her creamy looking skin, when it was already badly bruised looking, seemed pathetic and inconsiderate of him to do. He decided to take his mind off on the mysterious girl for now, and to just relax in the lukewarm water instead.

After a good soak in the water he reached over the ledge of the rim and picked up a wrapped parcel. The package was small, and wrapped up in thick white rice paper. An old lady next door had given it to him when he had inquired about a bath and where to fetch some water. The old lady was certainly blushing a deep shade of red when she looked upon the young general, and imagined him having a relaxing bath. Her imagination certainly did let it get the better of her.

As he recalled it, the old lady did seem kind and friendly, but what he also noticed was that she didn't wear a mask over her face. Like some of the village girls he had seen on his way back to the hut.

'I wonder what the significance of these masks are?'

Kepping that thought in mind, he opened up the small parcel, tied loosely with a string, and took the brown coloured bar of soap.

After bringing it up close to his nose for a small wiff, he shrugged his shoulders and began to scrub his body madly.

The smell of scented pine assualted his nose a second later when his body was good and lathered up with the creamy substance. He then turned his attention towards his long, silk mane and began to give it a good lather as well.

When he finished he ducked underneath the water and scrubbed off the remaining soap spus on his body and hair.

With that done, he stepped out of the water and picked up the towel that the old lady had also given to him.

He frowned at its size, the white fluffy material reminded him of Sesshomaru's favourite cloak, but it wasn't as expensive looking as his mane of fluff considering the guy was pratically made out of money. What irritated Inuyasha about the soft, downy material was that it was barely even big enough to wrap around his well toned torso.

'That old lady, just what was she thinking of when she gave this to me all giggly and stuff?', he thought sourly as his left eyebrow began a sudden twitch.

He shook his head and tried to ignore the distracting thought of her having given this to him on purpose. After all she was a kind, old lady there was no way she could be anything else either than that.

His thoughts were interrrupted when he heard a knock at the front door. He was about to jump into the clothes that were thrown about on the floor, but they were torn and dirty, and he had just bathed too.

He decided againts it, but had no other choice, so he walked out of the spare room and went straight towards the front entrance. He hid his body, from waist down, againts the wooden panel of the sliding door. His other half peeked out curriously at whom had been knocking at his door.

He raised his right eyebrow in curiousity when he saw the small group of eldery ladies standing shyly outside his hut door.

"Um...can I help you ladies?", he asked confused.

The group of elderly women began to giggle excitedly as they examined the well shaped chest in front of them.

"Oh here sonny, we have brought ye a new set of garments. Your other ones looked torn and dirty.", one of the old ladies with the most wrinkles stepped foward, blushing as she held out some black material before him.

"Uh...thanks", Inuyasha responded nervously. He couldn't help but feel uncomftorable that the elderly women before him were drooling at the mere sight of his bare chest, literally.

The old laddies squealed in pleasure when he stuck out his arm, he had to use one hand to hold up his towel while the other deftly snatched the clothing from the ever gawking, wrinkly woman. As Inuyasha had feared, while one of his hands was drastically holding onto the small material wrapped around his torso, the front of the cloth had began to slide down slowly. One of the ladies had passed out from the mere excitement of the strip tease while the others screamed like young school girls.

He gasped in embarassement and quickly shut the front door, leaving a bunch of groaning old ladies behind in dissapointment. He didn't care if it was rude, but he did it to salvage what modesty he had left in him.

"Don't be a stranger now handsome", he heard one of the old ladies chirp behind him through the closed door.

"If ye ever needs anything...and I mean anything, do not hesitate to ask for it", another elderly lady yelled loudly.

Inuyasha groaned, 'Now all the village hags will start to spread rumours on how I pratically displayed myself right in front of them to see. They must think I'm a total pervert!'.

In all his musings he couldn't help but see the odd humour behind it all, 'Those old ladies were pratically wishing for the towel to have fallen. Now I'm starting to wonder who the real pervert here actually is?'

He quickly pushed the distracting thoughts of old perverted women away, and turned towards the fresh pair of clothes that they had given him.

After throwing the clothes on he felt alot better that he had something clean to cover up his body with. The material neither soft nor rough, and yet comftorable to move around in and wear all day. The pants were long and baggy, with a string at the front with a string at the front which he tied into a knot. The shirt was long, black and it stuck to his body like a second layer of skin. There were no sleves attatched to the shirt, allowing his well shaped arms to catch attention more easily and the sun to darken his skin. He felt like a fighter in his clothes, well balanced and with easy movement, without the heavy weight of many layers of clothing holding him down. The texture and feel of his new clothing was to give an upperhand in combat. He had long since forgotten this advantage considering he was always busy keeping up with his regular training or it had never crossed his mind when he was in the midst of battle. This was certainly something he could get use to, he felt more unconstrained and comftorable in these new clothes than his old ones.

'Oh crap...I forgot all about my haori again', he groaned. 'But now that it's been decided that I would stay here until Tsubaki's treasure was found, I'm allowed to roam the village as much as I want to...right?'.

He didn't ponder on this question further because at that moment his stomach had decided to interrrupt his thoughts.

It gurgled once more when he ignored it at first and a third time when he began to clean out the bath area.

'Damn, I forgot to ask where do I get some chow around here', he thought back to the group of old ladies that had told him not to hesitate in asking if he needed anything. But then again those same old ladies had been eyeing him as if were a piece of candy on display.

He shook his head, 'Nah, I think I'm just gonna go look around and see what I can find to eat'.

After making sure the bath area was clean, he pulled on his black tabi boots and headed outside.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't spot a single old lady in sight, they were starting to scare him the more he thought about how much they had wanted the towel to have fallen off his waist.

He took a random route that led into the village's main square. There were many booths that had fruits, vegetables, fish and a variety of other products, sold by pleasant looking people.

'This is just like back at home...these people are no different than the merchants in the city.'

He heard the sound of a sizzle behind him, followed by an all familiar and unique smell.

'Okonomiyaki?', he scrunched his forehead in both confusion and delight.

He walked closer to the booth were an overweight looking senior was busy flipping giant pizza looking pancakes.

Inuyasha allowed his nose to take over his body and it led him towards the booth, where he stood there pratically drooling at the sight of the scrumptious flour based delight.

The senior at the booth gave him a toothy grin as he flipped over one of the Okonomiyaki and served it to a customer with Yakisoba, who was also drooling at the delicious sight as well.

Inuyasha gulped and mechanically reached into his side pockets for his wallet. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he found his pockets empty, and he frantically began to search in his other pocket out of despair.

'Gah! I'm such an idiot! I forgot my wallet back at Magasaki town', he nearly swore loudly for his own stupidity, 'Now how the hell am I gonna be able to afford food?'

He sighed and looked longingly at the wonderful smelling food before him.

'Guess I'm just gonna have to forget about buying food here until I can get some money'.

He turned and was about to leave, when the old man caught behind him yelled for him to stop.

Inuyasha turned around slowly and gave him a confused look.

"Didn't you want to try one of my okonomiyaki there young man?",he gave the general a huge grin, showing a couple of dark gaps in between a couple of white, shiny teeth.

"Well...yeah, but I do not have any money to pay with sir", he stated politely.

The old man gave out a hearty laugh, shaking his bulging belly a couple of times to the rhythm of his of his laughter.

"I don needs no monies from you young man, that's all city talk you got'er goin der. Here we share what we gots wit others, and in return they do the sames. It is our way o life in dis here village. I was pretty sure you was da newcomer everyone is gossiping about round's here dese parts."

Inuyasha nodded, "Guess you can tell huh? Man does news spread around here fast"

"Yup, it shurry can. Tell you what...how 'bout I make you one scrumptious looking Okonomiyaki and you tell me if it even compares its taste as the ones they gots der in the city."

Inuyasha grinned, "You got yourself a deal there old man". Grateful that he was going to get some free okonmiyaki, and some delicious looking ones too.

The old man gave Inuyasha another toothy grin before he began to place a couple of ingrediants into a bowl and mix them together. The old man then proceeded to place the batter onto a small pan in front of him. There where a couple of logs encased by a small, clay furnace that kept the flame going for the grill to remain hot and ready for cooking.

"Choose your ingrediants der mi boy", he indicated when the batter was placed into the pan.

Inuyasha gave him an astonished look.

"What? You can't have Okonomiyaki if you don choose your favourite ingrediants now can you's?", the big bellied, old man grinned.

Inuyasha grinned, "Oh uh yeah, well...I want beef, chicken, shrimp and alot of Yakisoba", he licked his lips in hunger.

The man chuckled his jolly laugh and began preparing the ingrediants according to what the newcomer had requested.

Finally when he had flipped it one last time and it was cooked and ready to eat, he placed the okonomiyaki in a large wooden bowl, dripped some sauces on top and put an extra heaping of yakisoba, all for the general pratically drooling at the mere sight of food.

"Thanks I really appreciate it old man", he mumbled quickly before he dug in noisingly, slurping at every mouthful of noodles and grilled okonomiyaki.

The old man with grey temples, and a large bald spot in the middle of his scalp chuckled at the comical scene of a hungry newcomer before him.

"You must o' been really hungry der young man", he stated as he wiped down his cutting board and little grill.

"I was...star-...ving", he replied between mouthfulls.

When Inuyasha had finished the last bite of his food, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand of any excess sauce still lingering on his lips, and slapped the wooden bowl on the big bellied man's booth.

"Old man that's gotta be the best darn tasting okonomiyaki ever. And I gotta say it beats the city's any time day or night, believe me I've tried plenty", he grinned.

The old man quickly shook his head from being startled so abruptly and began to laugh his jolly good old laughter.

"Well I'll be darned, that's gotta be the best compliment I ever'd recieved. You here mi boy are welcomed back any time for more."

"Will do old man", Inuyasha bowed politely before he left the jolly good old man.

'Man that was some good food...and I can't believe my luck, I got free grub!. This place sure is something', he nodded silently to himself.

He was uncertain of where he was going, but it didn't bother him much considering he had no fixed schedule, or specific appointments of where he was supposed to be. Having this type of good opportunity, he roamed wonderously around the village square and along the near outskirts of the village.

Plenty of times he had thought about dashing off into the woods and finding his way back to Magasaki town. But he had given his word to the princess that he would help find the treasure that Tsubaki was seeking, and he always kept his word no matter what the circumstances were. Even if he did want to escape from this village anyway, it seemed that there were warriors patrolling the edges of the forest and some of the other areas of the village.

A couple of them had glanced his way every so often, and every time Inuyasha would look their way in return they would end up giving him a friendly wave or a thumbs up.

At first he felt pissed and was even tempted to go and smack a couple of them over the head because It had only been just last night that they were threatening to throw him into the man eating centipede's pit. Now they were all acting as if the incident had never occured.

After seeing the same grinning faces and friendly gestures though, he just shrugged and accepted the ill fact that he might not get his revenge after all since there was no good reason in starting a pointless fight. After all they were doing there job and were protecting their village, if they hadn't of captured him then they would of been dishonoring their titles as protectors of the village.

That alone would of been enough to irke him, for he hated corrupt bastards and lazy good for nothings.

The time flew by quickly the more he explored the village, he noticed alot of differences here and there, especially with the people. He had never had so many people acknowledge him in friendly greetings and gestures as he took route after route throughout the entire village.

He even noticed a couple of young women here and there wearing odd looking masks, blushing and smiling all too cheerfully towards his way. The first young girl who had smiled at him like that, he had to even look behind him to see if she was perhaps smiling at some young guy behind him. When he noticed that there was no other person besides him walking down the same route that the blushing girl was also walking on, he had to scratch his head in confusion for a second. After a full minute when the girl had dissapeared around a corner, the realization had fianlly sunk into him about what the girl had actually been blushing about.

'It can't be...do all these young girls actually think I'm...', he gulped before he accepted his own statement as a fact, '...attractive?'

He nearly doubled in laughter at his own stupid assumption, 'Man I'm definately loosing it. Maybe I still got some sauce on my face somewhere and they're too embarassed to tell me I got something on my face', he huffed as he passed a small group of young girls doing laundry, all wearing strange looking masks, and whispering to each other about something even his super sensitive ears couldn't quite catch.

He ignored their happy smiles towards him and continued making his way throughout the village to where his hut was.

Almost reaching the top steps of his hut, he stopped suddenly when he heard heavy footsteps approach from behind him.

"Yo! I was starting to wonder where you had gone off to", the deep, masculine voice stated as the same owner of the voice clamped a hand onto his right shoulder.

Inuyasha whisked around quickly with his fists raised into the air, ready to strike if the person behind him was an enemy.

"Whoa, calm down there buddy! It's me Bankotsu remember?", the tall warrior exclaimed as he grinned widely, showing a set of pearly white teeth.

"Yeah, I knew that", Inuyasha huffed, slightly annoyed at the fact that the guy had an odd way of obtaining people's attention.

"Sure ya did. Anyways the princess has asked me to check up on you every so often to make sure you're doing all right. So I gotta ask...are you doing all right?", he crossed his arms casually.

"I...guess. What, she still thinks I'm gonna run off or something?", he pratically spat, 'And even after I gave her my own word, she still doesn't believe I'll stay and help look for the treasure'.

"Nah! She believes that you won't, says you wouldn't be able to find your way back to Magasaki town anyways", Bankotsu half grinned in amusement.

Inuyasha resisted the urge to sweatdrop. "She...said that?"

"Yeup, she did. Anyways its the last meal of the day now and I was wondering if you'd like to join the hunters and I at the dinner hall for some chow".

"You kidding, I'm pratically starving again".

Bankotsu slapped the side of his leg while he bursted out in laughter, "Then ya should of said something then. Come on I'll show you where it is. The hunters usually come to get their meals here when they feel too tired or lazy to cook for themselves. It's not bad food there either and sometimes you get to see a really cute girl there every so often", Bankotsu smirked playfully, nudging the man beside him in acknowledgement to his own slyness.

Inuyasha only snorted through his nose, took on a serious expression and placed his two hands stiffly behind him while he straightened out his back.

Bankotsu found it awkward that the newcomer didn't laugh at the harmless joke along with him, so he stopped laughing and scratched the back of his head a couple of times.

"So...", he quickly tried to find a different topic to discuss about, "What do they call you back at that city of yours?"

"They call me Inuyasha. Inuyasha West", the tall, well built general stated formaly.

"Ah! West huh?...One of the sons of Inu No Taisho I assume?".

Inuyasha stared in surprise at the warrior dressed in clothing such as his, but the difference being white in colour, and with dark blue armour on his chest and shoulders.

"I thought so...you do resemble the man quiet a bit a I must say", Bankotsu chuckled lightly.

"How did you know my old man?".

"Uh well, my own father had served under him long ago. He was a great General, that old man of yours, strong, intelligent and well respected by everyone who knew him. And by the looks of it, it seems as if his youngest son has chosen to follow in his old footsteps", Bankotsu observed the way the man beside him walked stiff straight and with a commanding air of authority.

"Yeah, but...I'm not as great as he was", the general mumbled.

"Well we all gotta start off somewhere now don't we? But I guess that it's not all that easy when you're looked down in the real world by your half demon inheritance, now is it?".

"Heh, so what you got a problem with my half demon blood now?", Inuyasha growled.

"Calm down, I didn't mean any offence. In case you havn't noticed I'm also half demon myself", Bankotsu stated proudly.

Inuyasha gave the warrior next to him a stupified look.

"What? You're a..."

"The term they like to use around here is a hanyou...and yes I am one of them. My father was a full youkai, while my mother was a beautiful and ordinary human. In the end I guess I just inherited my mother's human blood more", he shrugged, "But it doesn't matter to me cause I'm alot stronger than the average human and that's way better than anything".

Inuyasha had begun to develop a new found respect towards the warrior dressed in white, with long, black hair tied back into a braid and ending a couple of inches just past the waist. 'He doesn't care at all that he's a half breed, he's actually proud'.

It was so unexpected and yet amazing all the same that there were actually others just like him who could actually handle their blood inheritance alot better than he ever could.

'Then again this village does have both demon and humans living together in peace. There may be a chance that there could be other half demons as well'.

Bankotsu and Inuyasha kept walking until they were in front of a large, open sheltered area. There were rows of neatly alinged, large tables with many cushions on each side. The two men took their footwear off at the front entrance, placing them in polished, wooden cubby holes, and then proceeded to walk across the clean tatami mats. The tables were large enough to hold at least ten men each, five on each side of the table where they could face each other and exchange words of communication.

"Hey Inuyasha, just a word of caution", Bankotsu whispered as they neared towards a table with a small handful of men, "You see that oddly dressed looking warrior over there?".

Inuyasha turned to look to his left and noticed a warrior...or was it warrioress, with too much face colours on, making the person look ridiculous.

"Yeah and?"

"Well he's one of my men, goes by the name of Jakotsu. He's a bit of an oddball, but don't let him freak you out...the guy is harmless", he quickly whispered before he chose a particular table and sat on top of a large, grey cushion.

Inuyasha scrunched his brow in confusion and just shrugged as he went to go sit beside Bankotsu, whom was already signalling for him to hurry up and sit beside him.

"Oh my gosh what a pair of adorable ears!"

Bankotsu sighed as he slapped the side of his face, turning a weary look towards his new companion on his right.

"Too late you've been spotted", Bankotsu whispered.

"Huh, what are you taking about?", Inuyasha didn't have much time to ponder on his meaning when he felt a pair of hands touch his scalp gently.

"Oh I must touch them, they are so cute!", a high pitched voice squealed behind the startled general.

Inuyasha turned to look at the person behind him and jerked away from the person's curious hands.

"Gah, what do you think you're doing?", Inuyasha snapped in anger.

"Oh you must let me touch them. Please?".

The general flinched under the man's gaze, 'It's the same guy Bankotsu had warned me about earlier, just what is up with this guy anyways, and why is he dressed like that!?'.

"Jakotsu, you're scaring him. Go back and sit down at your spot", Bankotsu replied slightly annoyed and yet light heartedly towards the man in the light coloured kimono.

"Oh Bankotsu! You never let me have fun with the cute ones", Jakotsu slightly pouted, making his overly painted, ruby lips stick out tremendously. With a sigh, he picked up the rim of his kimono delicately in one hand and went to go back to sit down at the other end of the table. Far away from the newcomer with the pair of adorable ears.

When he was gone Inuyasha breathed a sigh a relief, 'That guy gives me the creeps'.

"What's up with him", he indicated to the warrior next to him dressed in white.

"He doesn't find women as attractive as he does men, and let's just say that you are most definately are his type", Bankotsu smirked.

Inuyasha blanched, "I shoudn't of asked", he made a sound of disgust and avoided the gaze and flirtatious grins the odd looking man sent his way.

"Cheer up", Bankotsu nudged his ribs playfully, "The food's ready".

At the back of the dinner hall a set of shoji doors were pushed aside and two young looking girls wearing masks, followed by a large handfull of slightly older women not wearing any masks, walked through carrying many plates and bowls of food.

The general was about to ask why some of the women wore masks while others did not to the warrior dressed in white beside him, when a large plate of steaming, hot food was placed directly in front of him.

He drooled at the sight of grilled chicken and steamed vegetables before him, forgetting his earlier question at once. Inuyasha was grateful for the food and had to wait a bit before the rice was passed around the table, followed by steamed buns.

When everyone at the table was ready to dig into their food, there was a moment of silence throughout the entire room. Each warrior had their heads bowed down respectfully and were quiet for a minute or so before they looked up back again and began digging into the delicious meal before them.

The general felt at a loss when everyone around him grew quiet and had their heads bowed down respectfully. He didn't know how to properly respond to the situation, so he just kept quiet in respect to the others around him.

When Bankotsu looked up again he gave the general a friendly grin, before he dug into his own food, not even commenting or mentioning the general's actions during the moment of silence.

Deciding it wasn't important enough to comment on, Inuyasha quickly dug into his food and savoured each tasty bite.

The atmosphere became comftorable as each group of men related their stories to each other about the various hunts and kills of the day.

Inuyasha was just finishing the last of his meal when he spotted a young, tall looking warrior, lean yet slightly built, with short brown hair that was at the moment sticking up in small spikes. But what was the most noticeable trait about this mysterious warrior was the fact that he was dressed in all white clothing and blue armour across the chest and shoulders, exactly the same way Bankotsu was dressed.

"Hey!", Bankotsu waved excitedly towards the mysterious warrior, "Over here Souta, come join us!".

The warrior that was acknowledged as Souta came towards the table Inuyasha and Bankotsu were sitting and sat across from the two, so he could face and communicate easily with them.

"Kind of late for the chow bro", Bankotsu chuckled.

"Nah! I already ate at Baba's. So...is this the newcomer everyone is talking about?", Souta turned large, light brown orbs towards the general dressed in the warrior's traditional clothing.

The general could tell that the warrior before him had the eyes and features of an innocent youth, and by the looks of it he was probably a year or two younger than he was himself. But the hands that were neatly folded out in front of him on the table were that of a fighter; rough, calloused looking hands. The warrior also held an air of commanding respect, unlike Bankotsu this one seemed more fitted for whatever title and authority he held in this village.

"Yee-up, this is him all right and guess what too...he's the youngest son of the late General Inu No Taisho".

A silent hush had filled the room the moment those very words were spoken, and every single pair of eyes had fixed themselves on the golden eyed, tall man, with a well built body of muscle, and long flowing, silver hair.

"Inu No Taisho?", Inuyasha heard someone on his right gasp out in surprise.

'Damn father, even out here your reputation was well known. You really were a great General...weren't you'.

A huge man with a solid rock body, and thick bulging, muscular arms walked towards the General and bent on one knee before him.

"It is an honour to have the late Inu No Taisho's son here in our village", he then reached out to grasp his hand and give it a good, firm shake.

Inuyasha nodded, "Thanks".

"Welcome!"

"Yes welcome to out village".

''We hope you enjoy it here".

There were many greetings spoken towards the general, before they went back to gossiping and eating once more.

Souta accepted a cup of tea from a young lady with a strange looking mask that resembled a type of bird, before he turned his attention to the newcomer once again.

"What is your name son of Inu No Taisho?".

"My name is Inuyasha West", the general indicated before he too also accepted a cup of tea from the same girl that was going around from table to table handing out the hot beverage.

"Then I welcome you, here to our village Inuyasha West", Souta indicated genuinely.

For some strange reason, Inuyasha felt as if the warrior before him was welcoming him for himself, and not because he was the son of his well known father or any other reason. Just himself and nothing else.

In a way it made him feel...more comftorable.

Bankotsu had let out a booming chuckle, interrupting Inuyasha out of his train of thoughts. The warrior beside him was currently speaking with the same girl, who had been serving them tea just a moment ago. Bankotsu grinned a couple of times towards the girl, making her blush a shade of red and almost spill the sake that she was trying to pour into his cup for him.

Souta raised an eyebrow of question towards the fellow man sitting across from him. He shook his head and raised the cup of tea to his lips, ignoring the chuckling warrior as he flirted with the kitchen maiden.

An elder woman came out from behind the young girl and cleared her throat, loud enough to capture the attention of the blushing girl.

The girl quickly piled up all the empty dishes onto her tray and sped quickly out of the room and back towards the kitchens. She really had too much work to be done to just be wasting it on flirting with cute looking men.

Inuyasha remained silent when Bankotsu was flirting with the young girl. He noticed the dissaproving looks the warrior named Souta kept giving his way. But he was in deep thought to even ponder on the warrior's meaning . The masks were just puzzling. Some girls wore them, some didn't and all of the senior women of the village didn't wear one. This he noticed today when he was wandering around in the village today. But why...just what do these masks really mean?'.

When the girl had left, Bankotsu turned back to sitting properly in his seat and sipped on his sake with a large grin on his face.

"Bankotsu, did you know that the Princess is making you something special for your birthday?", Souta stated, with his eyes closed and looking as if he was in deep thought.

"Really? I can't believe it...and here I've been thinking all day that she has forgotten about it all. Well this is certainly a surprise", Bankotsu chuckled as he downed the rest of his sake in a single gulp.

Inuyasha's ears twitched slightly when he heard a slight sound from the corner of the dinner hall's entrance.

"Psst Souta! Over here".

The person whispering was obviously too shy at the moment to enter the dinner hall for some reason.

Inuyasha craned his neck to the side to get a view of the person, but the pillar was blocking the person's form and the person seemed to want to remain hidden for sure.

Souta got up from his seat and went over to the front entrance and exchanged a couple of words with the person before he walked back carrying a big, white parcel in his hands.

"She says to have a Happy One Day Bunk...and she also says that she especially made this for you", Souta placed the large parcel onto the table before Bankotsu.

Bankotsu nodded and took the package, while everyone in the dinner hall crowded around the warrior to get a peak at what was inside.

Inuyasha also became curious, especially since he had a feeling that the person who had made it was the princess.

The warrior in white deftly undid the white, cute bow that was placed on the side of the box, shaped parcel and lifted the cover.

Everyone gasped around him as they eyed the beautifully decorated treat inside the box.Bankotsu looked up towards the entrance of the dinner hall, and Inuyasha was able to catch a glimpse of the princess waving shyly before she left.

A small pang of something unknown stirred in the pit of the general's stomach, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. As he eyed the exquisite treat inside the box, the feeling just became more intensified.

'Why do I feel this way? I don't even care what or who the princess gives these types of things to. Heck, why should I?', he quickly dismissed the thoughts invading his mind and making before they made him utterly confused.

"Mmm, that lookes really good. Can I have a piece?", a warrior eyed the various fruit and multicoloured treat in front of Bankotsu.

Bankotsu sighed, "I can't believe she remebered my own special day. Man do I ever feel great now".

"Maybe this is a sign that she has accepted you and will take it easy on ya when you battle her", the warrior named Jakotsu crept towards the table where everyone was crowding around at the moment. And not because he wanted a piece of the sweet. He was definately eyeing a different piece of treat at the moment. One with long, silver hair.

"What! Bankotsu is battling the princess?", a couple warriors gasped in surprise.

Bankotsu's grin became wider and if it was possible, and in this case it was, he looked like a canary who just outsmarted a cat.

"Well...", he scratched at the back of his head a couple of times.

"I can't believe it he actually is going to battle with the princess! When? I must come and watch this event!", another chirped excitedly.

"My turn is coming up next week", Bankotsu crossed his arms defiantly.

The whole room erupted into laughter, save for Inuyasha who didn't see what was quiet so funny at the moment, and Souta who was calmly sipping his tea.

"Good luck Bankotsu, you know you're definately gonna need alot more time to train if you're thinking of beating the princess".

"Yeah, you'll never beat her that easily. Unless she decides to go easy on you".

"I doubt it...you know how the princess has a reputation to keep up no matter who she challenges".

Bankotsu frowned slightly at the comments the men were saying around him, but said nothing in return.

"Hey Bankotsu are you even gonna cut up the wa-gashi, cause if you don't hurry it up there I'm cutting off a big piece of it myself!", a warrior heartedly chuckled.

"All right, all right I'll cut it up already", he grabbed for a knife and began to divide the sweet into many small pieces, so everyone could at least have a taste of the delicious treat.

"I'm confused here...just what is this battle that everyone keeps on taking about?", Inuyasha asked as he accepted a piece of the sweet himself.

Bankotsu was too busy bragging about how the princess had given him all this attention so Souta was the one who had answered the general's question for him.

'I'm sure you've noticed some of the women in this village wearing various masks, there comes a time when a female reaches a certain age in learning the skills of being a caregiver. In our village here young girls are given the skills to learn to properly handle things and understand the concepts of raising a family. When a young female reaches the age of ten they are then sent out into the deepest part of the forests, where they must fend for themselves and use all the skills they have learned thus so far without the aid of any family or friends. During those three days, they are also required to find a type of inspiration, meaning something that has made them feel inspired throughout their whole ordeal, and has kept them going even when it became hard for them. After the three days are over they then keep to themselves and make a unique mask out of their own inspiration and place it over thier faces. The masks are all symbolic really, first of all they are like shields that hold the innocence of a young maiden in secret until their chosen champion is able to take off her mask in battle. Second, our ancestors believe that the eyes of maiden reflect the inner soul, and that a male is not supposed to look upon a maiden's eyes, unless he be bewitched by them. And third, the masks represent virginity, once taken off she belongs to no other than the champion who has taken off the mask. It's all common sense really, the young girls learn to follow the examples of other older women and apply their own knowledge as they grow older. When they finally reach the age of fifteen that's when the girls must be ready to show all they have gained throughout their learning years. If they havn't trained properly then they are easily brought down when they partake in the battle of the courtships. These courtship battles are not allowed to be denied by the women, but they are not as common considering everyone takes them seriously and only with the ones whom they really want to be with forever".

Inuyasha stared back in shock and amazement when Souta had explained the very last part about the courtship battles.

"When it's been decided, for example in this case with Bankotsu and the Princess, that they will be willing to battle with each other, not only will they battle because pride and honour are important to each one, but also they must battle with their hearts. The match will determine if they are a set couple or not...and if it so happens that if Bankotsu does not want the princess if he so happens to take off her mask then she must go back into the woods and find a new inspiration. But I hardly doubt that will be the case here", he mumbled the last part sourly to himself, thinking Inuyasha couldn't hear him. After all his sensitive ears could pick up on almost anything, even within a one mile range.

"Why is that so?", Inuyasha asked, suprising Souta that he had actually heard with what he said.

"Because, if Bankotsu were to win then he would be...the people's king", he picked up his cup of tea and took a couple of sips, his face contorting into that of a troubled one.

"So he's battling her so that he could marry the girl?", Inuyasha resisted the urge to ask of what was troubling him? He really looked like he didn't find the idea of Bankotsu being King too appealing. But then again the two seemed close and he didn't want to jump into any conclusions, lest he cause some trouble.

"Yeup, and he's not the only one who's been trying to either. Ever since she has turned fifteen there have been alot of men who have come challenging her, but believe me when I say this...she is not exactly easy to beat", he grinned to himself at the last comment.

"What! I can't believe it...but that's...that's...", Inuyasha huffed.

"Is there a problem Inuyasha", Souta asked calmly, well aware that there was something that was bothering the newcomer.

"No..it's nothing. Forget it", he ran a hand through his hair, a bit frustrated with himself for not being able to openly speak with what was on his mind at the moment. 'I can't believe they would even force their own princess into something she wouldn't want to do. How can these people just accept this so calmly?'

He took a bite out of the sweet pastry that the princess had brought for Bankotsu. The delicious, sweet texture of the wa-gashi immediantly assualted the taste buds on his tongue when he took his first bite out of it. The middle part of the pastry had a darker colour, indicating that it had been filled with a kind of sweet bean paste. The outer part was like a soft layer of sweet bread, almost like a sponge cake but not quite, and was lighter in colour compared to the middle part. The top of the sweet was covered in different kinds of fruits from pieces of peaches to strawberries and had some decorative sugar on top.

'This is another treat Sesshomaru would defiantely drool over for', he thought as he took another bite of the wonderful pastry.

'Too bad he's too far away to enjoy this'.

He was lost in his own little world that he failed to notice the sneaky Jakotsu come up from behind him and touch his hair.

"So soft", he cooed.

Inuyasha growled at the irritating and odd looking man behind him.

Jakotsu raised his hands innocently and backed off awkwardly away from the scary, handsome man with the adorable, cute ears.

Bankotsu just laughed when he turned and spotted this and then went back to bragging with some nearby warriors.

"And when I win...I'm gonna have a huge celebration for my victory", Bankotsu hollered loud enough for everyone to hear.

Souta frowned at this, 'He's always trying to make a scene...when will he ever learn'.

Inuyasha also frowned, but instead of sitting still and continue to hear the man's boisterous laughter, he got up from his seat and began to walk away from the dinner hall.

No one noticed him leave, everyone was having fun and drinking around the ever so lucky warrior, who might be their future king in a couple of days. None, except one that is.

'Hmm. This guy sure is alot different than most city people I've met. I wonder if there is actually a purpose for him in coming here', the warrior dressed in white, and with blue armour, looked intently into the dark liquid of his tea.

Just the thought of that man caressing the soft skin of the princess was enough to make his blood boil. He didn't care for the girl, but he had seen the way he had been eyeing the girl with the bird's mask, he heard how he commented on some girls that had captured his attention in the village and what he would like to do with them. He said that when he had been talking with some of the men after they had found out he would be battling the princess. But had he once even mentioned the princess herself, No! And that's what irritated him. He probably didn't even care for her and just wants to be king so he can have all the power that he wanted. Poor, girl she doesn't know what she's getting herself into by giving the guy all these wrong messages.

He thought back on the innocent smile and gesture she had given Bankotsu right before she left. 'She'd make the worse mistake of her life if she did allow the guy to win'.

'I don't care though...she can do whatever she wants. It's not like its any of my business anyways', he thought as he looked up at the stars that were starting to come out againts the darkening sky above.

'Just what reason do I exactly have for being here anyways...It can't just be for looking for the treasure that Tsubaki desires now could it? I just feel like...there is something more for me to do here.'

Sorry it took so long for me to update guys. So much stuff to do, so litte time.

But fear not for I shall never abbandon this story..nuh uh..no way.

I realize that someone actually sent me an email saying that if i didn't update sooner that they'd find out where i lived, tie me to a computer and make me update. I found that so funny i was laughing about it through dinner, its just one of those wierd humourous jokes that isn't too funny unless you spend time thinking about it.

O and by the way I aslo had someone say that i need to put the definitions down as well...oops my bad i kinda forgot in my other chapters to do that, but here's one for this chapter.

**Juban**-undergarment. The white kimono shirt we all see that Inuyasha has underneath the red fire rat material of his.

**Haori**- a short sleeved jacket worn over a kimono (but Inuyasha's are long sleeved...I guess there's different styles..cool.) This is his red fire rat jacket.

**Hakama**- can be either pants (like Inuyasha's red one's) or a skirt. Has ties at the waist for the user to tie without letting them fall off the waist (blush)

**Michiyuki-** I used this word in chapter 5 when Tsubaki draped it over her shoulders. They are three-quarter length coats that have square collars and necklines. (like a long coat sort of)

**Oknomiyaki**- yum. yum. i actually had a chance to try one of these in grade 7 long ago when I lived in Alberta. It is like a pizza pancake and you get to choose whatever you want on it and then they serve it to you with these sauces..like soya sauce, mayonnaise and aonori. and **Yakisoba** (which is fried noodles)...

**Wa-gashi//Wagashi-** (Bankotsu's cake) it actually means Japanese style sweet. It is much lower in calories considering they do not use butter or milk in it, and instead use ingrediants like azuki (red beans), sugar and rice flower. I just didn't know a specific type of cake to call mine (there were soo many) so I just used the simple word wagashi. (it's got a cool zip to it too)

I also realize that I used happy one day in here instead of happy birthday. I dunno why, but as i thought about it...did they really celebrate birthdays as "Happy birthday" back then? Oh well I kinda like Happy One Day, because in all, it actually is celebrated only one day of the year. (Do I make sense?)

Neways I'm already starting the next chapter...so don't worry there's more to come. Love you all. and please review. Please !!!!


	8. Tradition

Okay I just fixed the many mistakes on here, and have reposted it... I realized that there was a HUGE problem and the words were all smushed... I am sooo sorry about that guys. as a treat for my horrible errors if you guys would like to know what Inuyasha and the princess look like in the story, and how i can imagine it in my evil head!! go to this link

w w w (dot). a n i m e v e n g e a n c e (dot). n e t (don't forget to remove spaces, i no its weird but if i don't put spaces it wont show up at all...weird)

then go to the forums and there should be a post called fanart and hit that and it shall be the one called Babydragon's showcase. Love you all!! And once more..so sorry about this ugly problem..even i was shocked about it.

Disclaimer: "I own Inuyasha I own Inuyasha". (suddenly hears a sudden knock on the door...and out of curiosity goes and opens it)

"Excuse me there, are you miss. Babydragon".

"Uh...ye--es".

"Come with us"

"Who me", points to myself innocently, "Why?", I question the tall men dressed in black.

"Because it has been brought to our attention that you Miss, Babydragon has been caught plagerising the wonderful work of Rumiko Takahashi herself, and it is unacceptable."

"Oh...really so she does own pitasha?"

"Come again?", the tall agent with a pair of dark sunglasses stares at me in confusion.

"Pitasha...its a type of...blue fruit...yes very rare. This blue fruit. He he he", I respond nervously.

One of the agents dressed in black look at me as if I am crazy.

"Look, I have a story to write here, so if we're done talking could you please leave?"

Still continue to look at me as if I'm nuts.

"Okay, okay. I don't own Inuyasha. Rumiko does. But I do own Pitasha, this blue fruit", I hold up a red apple.

"Riii--gh--t. Men let's move out, obviously this girl has completely lost it", the three agents turn around and leave.

"Wait come back it really is blue...Oh not this one…oops its just an apple…now where did I leave Pitasha?"

"Oh well...now on with the story".

Chapter 8TRADITION

The news of Bankotsu and the Princess' battle spread like a wild fire throughout the entire week. Everywhere the General went he heard many rumors of them being the perfect match for each other, and how this battle was sure to be victorious. It seemed that every time he heard something that related to the Princess and Bankotsu, he just couldn't handle it and would get up and leave presence of the one whom was speaking. One particular elderly lady had even gasped in surprise when she opened her eyes after telling her little speech, only to find herself speaking to no one in particular.

He didn't know why he had been acting the way he had. There was no word to what he was feeling, and he himself knew it was something he could neither explain nor understand. It just nerved him to no end to hear that the Princess herself had to fight with someone, he just couldn't accept the fact that they made women submit to men so easily in this village.

'Whatever, it's not like I care anyway. I'm just going to find the damn treasure and get the hell out of here as soon as I can. I don't want to be here anymore', he huffed to himself. Even though he had to admit that it was actually quiet nice living in a place such as this village...where nobody was a total pain in the ass about differences between humans and demons.

He sighed as he took a moment to look at his surrounding area. Walking slowly towards a slope that overlooked a large plain, he scanned far into the grassy area below carefully. In the middle of the plain there was an enormous arena, with a vast number of the villagers surrounding it. The arena was white, covered with large mats for less damage to the fighters and for better foot grip.

The general stood and watched the two opponents that were just beginning the battle right after a short man in traditional, violet robes stepped off of the stadium in a dash.

Bankotsu was the first to make his move. He had shot forward with quick, practiced speed and raised his shinai at the last moment, then brought it back down with such force that the stick almost split in half. The princess held her ground firmly and shook off the convulsion the impact had caused quickly, and with a backflip, she kicked her opponent on the underside of his chin.

The warrior dressed in white clothing and without his blue armor stumbled back slightly, but before he fell he placed a hand onto the floor and pushed himself back onto his feet.

Inuyasha could clearly see the fine line of sweat forming onto the man's brow from his position, and he could even tell that at the moment Bankotsu was frowning towards the opponent in front of him. He shot forward once more and drove his weapon hard to the left. The warrior then made a quick series of movements with his shinai, after the princess had easily dodged his side hit. She made quick movements with her own weapon as well, always dodging every thrust or side swing that he threw at her.

At one point Bankotsu had to stop and take a couple of deep breaths, before he shot forward once again with a lot more determination then before. A sharp slap of wood against wood rang through the air and the two pushed back against each other with equal amount of strength.

Bankotsu then pushed down hard against the beautiful, yet deadly princess and made her stumble back slightly. At the mere point of her distraction in trying to regain her balance he raised his weapon and swung it down hard, sending her shinai sword flying through the air and into the anxious crowd.

The crowd of men cheered as well as some of the village women, knowing that the warrior Bankotsu was closer to being victorious in his battle against the princess. The elders that were on the sidelines, a space reserved only for the high elders of the village, kept stoic and expressionless faces as they observed the battle before them. Inuyasha bit the side of his lip out of nervousness, he wasn't sure why, but the idea of the princess being close to defeat just didn't settle right with him.

'This is not good. Now what am I going to do without my weapon? He's being a lot more aggressive than before now too', the warrioress dressed in her traditional, huntress' clothing frowned at her own problem at hand.

A low laugh met her ears, and a dark glint of satisfaction flashed in his eyes before Bankotsu was running towards her a full speed.

'Whatever happens...I must not lose this battle', she stood in a ready attack posture.

A sharp pain shot through her arm when she raised it up in defense, but she didn't let it stop her as she swept one of her legs underneath him and used the other one to kick him hard in the stomach.

He flew back a couple feet, rolling on the stage blindly and towards the edge. He dug his heels into the mats and flipped through the air towards her, one arm outstretched in his last attempt to take off her mask.

She bent at the waist and flipped, placing both her feet right into his stomach and sending the warrior flying straight through the air and a couple feet away from the arena.

The crowd went dead silent in that moment. The battle was over.

Bankotsu got up on his feet slowly, wiping at the bit of blood that had dripped down his chin, from the left corner of his mouth.

The princess doubled over slightly gasping for breath as the warrior in white she had known for a long time now, slowly approached her.

When he was within a couple of feet in front of her, he bowed politely, and avoided any eye contact with her.

She bowed in return as well, and when they had both composed themselves one of the elder priests in the violet robes walked over towards the two. The elder with long white hair and an amazingly, long white beard was going to make a speech about the honorable fight that had just passed, even though there was no victory. The elder had cleared his throat and was about to begin, when the princess turned away from him and walked straight away from the arena, and the surprised crowd.

The elder was left nervously clearing his throat, and making reasonable excuses for the princess's abrupt departure. Bankotsu crossed his arms and looked away from the on looking crowd, disappointment and anger clearly displayed on his features.

Up on the slope, Inuyasha stared at the scene both in confusion and with relief. Even though many had expected their battle to be victorious, he was somewhat amazed that it was not, and even more surprised when the princess herself had just suddenly left. The last look on her face that he had managed to catch had baffled him none the less.

'If she had cared for him so much, such as the villagers assumed she did, then why didn't she let him win?...Why in the world was she crying ?'

Nightfall approached quickly. Many went about their tasks for the day, whispering every so often about the princess and the battle that took place earlier on. A few had been , thinking that Bankotsu as great as a warrior himself, would of made a fine choice as their next king. Others that were envious of his close relation with the princess found it a relief that he had lost to her, giving them a chance to challenge the princess later on.

The princess herself was nowhere to be found at the moment, and many assumed that she was probably somewhere in the great forests taking time to herself. No one really worried for her, they more in fact felt sorry for her at the moment, as someone with a great responsibility she herself had it hard in life. The villagers left her in peace for the moment, before they all began to jump to conclusions and sent search parties after her. As for Bankotsu himself, he received a few glares from some of the villagers, they believe that he had been too rough during the battle, others scorned at him for his envious position, and a large number had given him a firm pat on the back for a 'better luck next time'.

The hunters of the village had gathered at the dinner hall, like many seemed to do every night. Inuyasha was amongst them, keeping mostly to himself as he watched the others, especially Bankotsu, drink the night away.

"He's drunk as hell", Souta mumbled sourly when he took a seat right next to the general.

"Feh, tell me about it", Inuyasha mumbled under his breath. The general then proceeded to lift a cup of sake to his lips, but then took one sniff of it and set it back down again.

Souta chuckled a bit when he saw the sour face cross the general's features. "Don't like the smell of it I see?"

"Nah...just changed my mind about drinking it, that's all", he set the cup aside.

"Well...if that's your excuse then".

Inuyasha decided not to comment on that and instead focused his attention to the one warrior dressed in white, sitting across the room and drinking heavily.

"I wish hiccup I had...a li--ttle birdie...that I could pet and name it hiccup Go-rd-y, and cuddle it with hugs", Bankotsu sang to everyone around him, while he took another swig of sake from a large jug, which he held in his hand.

"He's taking the loss pretty badly, if you ask me", Jakotsu, the odd looking man stated as he sat in between Souta and Inuyasha.

Inuyasha flinched slightly when the man next to him gave him a broad, sly grin. It sent chills down his spine and he moved slightly away from the creepy guy.

"Someone should take the jug of sake away from him. He's making a scene and a complete fool of himself", Souta huffed, completely oblivious to the odd man dressed in feminine clothing next to him eyeing Inuyasha.

One of Bankotsu's men, dressed in dark hunter's clothing and with big bulky arms, reached out in an attempt to swipe the jug away from the said man.

"No. NO...no touchy...my baby...no. No...touchy!", he slapped unmercifully at the warrior's hand.

"I guess this is a good thing then that he didn't win", Souta mumbled quietly to himself.

"And if he did", Inuyasha asked, hearing the young man beside him speak low as if to himself.

"Are you speaking to me?", Jakotsu chirped happily.

"No!", the general huffed, "If you don't mind I'd like some privacy...and quit acting like that, you're creeping me out!".

Jakotsu's face become sullen for just a mere moment until he spotted a group of hunters walking through the front entrance. Jumping up excitedly, he ran towards the young group of hunters with an enormous smile on his face once more.

Inuyasha sighed in relief, glad to have that creepy guy away from him. He noticed the group of young men enter the dinner hall talking excitedly about an intense game they had during the day. But what caught his attention more was the flash of white clothing that had sneaked behind one of the pillars.

He smirked to himself when he saw a dazzling pair of adamant eyes peek around the pillar.

'So she came'.

Souta was still frowning towards the drunken warrior and his attention was mainly focused on him.

The said drunken warrior had even began to climb on top of one of the tables and began dancing while he sang an unknown tune loudly.

"That's it!", Souta boomed as he rose up from off his seat and marched over to where the drunken warrior was dancing.

"And the bur-dies say hiccup..say hiccup..say hiccup"

"That's enough Bankotsu", Souta snorted before he pried the jar of sake away from the drunkard's hands and knocked him upside the head with it.

"Sooo-taaa", Bankotsu half whispered half giggled as if it were all a joke to him, before he collapsed onto the floor unconscious.

Inuyasha took the moment of distraction to sneak away from his table unnoticed, hoping to catch up to the princess before she disappeared again.

There was a small trace of tears still lingering in the air when he walked out of the dinner hall. It was easy enough to follow her sweet scent as well through the passageways and routes, the rose petal and honeysuckle smell was a dead giveaway against the foresty scent in the village.

He spotted her quickly as she was nearing a bend and he ran to catch up to her quick, set pace.

"Hey!", he voiced when she didn't indicate that she noticed him beside her.

He noticed her stiffen and set off at an even more rapid pace, trying to lose the one that was following her at the moment.

"Wait...stop will you!", he growled as he reached out for her arm and grabbed it when she didn't slow down.

She gasped in pain and he quickly caught on to what he had done so he let her arm go.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to", he held up his hands innocently in front of him.

"It is all right", she massaged her bruised arm gently.

"Look, I don't mean to be nosy or anything, but what's with you...don't you care for him. I mean...shouldn't you go and talk to him, the guy's really taking it bad", he folded his arms in a signature fashion.

"Humph! Why should I take advice from you? Besides he is drunk and shall not listen to reason...and as you have stated, it really is none of your business", she spun on her heels and began her brisk pace once more.

"Hey I'm not done here yet...wench", he stormed after her once more.

"Now what is it?", she stopped as abruptly as she took off.

"I got a bone to pick with you! It's your stupid traditions, that's what! Why do you allow women to participate in combat. Isn't that going just a little overboard?".

"You are not from around here stranger, so I do not expect you to understand the meaning of our traditions".

"Understand?...heh, like hell. I understand perfectly well that you women are forced into battle, and against your will. What I don't get is that none of you do anything about it, you all just seem to go along with it and then get beat up for it."

"Is that how you view it all stranger?...Typical", she huffed, spun around once more and set off quickly.

His left eyebrow began to twitch in irritation, ' The wench!...Well she's not getting away from me that easily', he ran after her.

"You have a rude tendency to walk away from people when they're speaking", The general snapped.

"Oh, you were not done talking?", she replied sarcastically, and stopped in her tracks.

"Yeah, I'm not done", he ignored her sarcasm, "You're fucken hurt and need medical attention. You can't just be walking around like that!", he pointed towards her slightly cut arm, that wasn't bleeding but still needed treatment before infection seeped its way in.

She took a step back, surprised by his rude, yet worried tone.

"I am a princess of my people, I do not succumb to pain that easily".

"I don't care if you're the strongest being on earth! Those wounds right there have slight trace of infection in them already, and if you don't get proper treatment right now you're not going to use that arm of yours ever again", he snorted through his nose.

She looked the open wounds in her arms in worry, and then looked back up to the man standing in front of her.

"Fine! I do not know how it is that you know of this, but I shall take your word for it. So if we are done here...then I bid you good night stranger", she stated with as much irritation as she could towards the stranger, before she bounded through the village.

He was about to comeback with a witty remark, but decided against it.

She was way too difficult to talk to tonight, and provoking her was not something he wanted to do at the moment.

With one last look towards the direction in which the princess had left, he quickly walked at a brisk pace back to his hut.

'She didn't even answer my question, she just avoided it. Just what in the hell does she feel towards the guy anyway? Does she care for him like everyone thought? Feh, whatever...I got more important things to do that worry about some dumb, little bitch.'

He reached the front steps towards his hut and was about to go in, when he looked back towards the evening sky, lightly misted with the evidence of stars that were bound to glow stronger with the residing darkness over the land.

'But her aura...did seem terribly sad though', he shook his head to clear the image of a heavy burdened princess from his mind, and entered into the spacious hut.

It was early morning when the general woke from his light sleep. The first minute that dawn broke over the tall mountains in the far distance, he rose up from his futon and set about to preparing himself for another day in searching for the treasure.

Just when he was walking in the outer parts of the village, he noticed Bankotsu walking towards the forest with a group of men, looking sullen and depressed.

It wasn't as if he disliked the guy, and he did feel really bad for him. But heck, what could he do? It's not like he really cared, not especially since he had been the cause to some of the bruises the princess wore.

'Speaking of which...', he noticed that the same girl he had been thinking about all last night and early this morning, was at the moment approaching up towards the hill that he was currently standing on.

She was wearing a light pink, cheongsam dress, that ended an inch above the knees. It molded onto her every curve, and he couldn't help but notice that she indeed have an amazing, looking body. Her supple frame distracted him for a mild second, and he forgot at the moment that he was openly staring at her advancing form.

His small reverie was broken when he heard bouts of childish laughter and uncontrolled giggling that surrounded her.

She looked lively and full of energy as she came even closer. The small group of children then decided to race up the rest of the small hill, and she too joined in on their little game.

"Children wait up. I cannot carry all of these myself", she laughed the entire time up the hill.

The first child to arrive up the hill was none other than the all familiar kitsune Inuyasha had saved long ago.

"Inuyasha!", the kitsune hopped onto his shoulder playfully and out of breath.

"Hey kid...where have you been?"

"With the princess", he nodded his head towards the girl that had just reached the top of the hill with the remaining children.

There were still small cuts and bruises on her arms and legs, but for some reason they seemed to be fading fast.

"What are you doing all the way up here Inuyasha?".

"Just searching".

"For whaaaat?", another child beamed up at him brightly.

"A treasure", he replied secretively.

"Wow!", many of the younger children gasped and started talking amongst themselves excitedly.

"Princess", Inuyasha nodded his head towards her in a formal gesture.

"Seems as if you have the little ones excited now", she smiled.

He was slightly taken back by her gentle manner that it made his heart speed up a bit, he was so use to the spitting rage that she bestowed only upon him.

"Come along now children. We have a lot of work ahead of us if you want choco".

"Yeay! choco", the children squealed in contempt, forgetting about the treasure that had mildly distracted them from their yummy surprise.

"Inuyasha do you want to come and make choco with us?", Shippo had hopped down from his shoulder and tugged on his pants, while looking up at him with big, innocent eyes.

" come with us Mr. Treasure man", another child with short, brown hair added.

"It's not that easy", he mumbled, trying to resist their cute and innocent looks. He then turned towards the princess for any sign or indication of his next move.

"If you are not busy stranger, then please I bid you to join us", she stated and began to walk away towards the village.

"See...she said it was all right", a small girl with pigtails pulled on his pants for him to get moving.

"All right then", he sighed, 'Guess I couldn't escape this one', he half smiled and quickly walked up to where the princess was walking.

"Thanks for the invitation".

"It is nothing, besides...the children are a hand full and I will be needing some assistance", she smirked towards him.

He narrowed his eyes comically, 'Is this why she isn't bothered with me coming...just so I can be her work slave?'

The princess noticed the sour look that crossed his features before she burst out giggling. Without her notice, one of the items that she was holding in her arms began to slip out of her grasp and fell to the floor.

With quick movement, Inuyasha caught the item in mid air and before it touched the ground.

"Thank you", she blushed slightly by her mere moment of clumsiness.

"Just what is this?", he asked curiously, eyeing her cute blush that stained her soft ivory cheeks.

"They are fruits called cocoa pods and inside are these beans that we shall be making choco out of".

"I see...", he took a moment to study the reddish-brown looking fruit in his hand. It was oddly shaped, almost like a squash and it had a rough leathery texture to it. He took a sniff of it and noticed it had a sweet, musty smell to it.

'I know I've smelled this before...but where?'

"Interesting are they not?"

"Heh", he shrugged. "Here let me take some more of these...it looks like you got your hands full anyway", he indicated towards the children surrounding them and began plucking some of the strange looking pods from her arms.

She smiled up at him, but he tried to avoid the alluring smile she gave to him out of gratitude, and set to looking straight ahead of him with a frown.

"Maybe if you are a really big help...the children just might consider sharing a piece with you", she giggled.

"Are you mocking me", he huffed, looking slightly amused. 'She looks really pretty when she smiles...and those adamant eyes she has on her mask really do bring out her beauty.'

"My...if I was mocking you, then I think you would know", she smirked and walked a few paces ahead of him.

"Funny...very funny".

They all sat under a shady tree as the sun in the sky began to rise higher. The temperature was relatively warmer than usual and there were a couple of groans that escaped from the children every so often when they wanted something refreshing to drink.

At the moment the children were all in small groups of two or three and trying to open each pod with a small wooden mallet.

Inuyasha got frustrated after a while with the dinky mallet, and set it to the side. He then picked up an unopen pod and used his sharp claws to cut open the pod quicker and easier.

Some of the children stopped in their work only to 'ooh' and 'ahh' at the general's quick abilities to open the cocoa pods faster.

"Children it is not appropriate to gawk at someone who is intentionally showing off", the princess replied in a sing song voice and with a mocking tune behind it.

She then got up with a basket already filled with the cocoa beans, and headed towards a small cooking hut .

"I was not showing off", he huffed behind her retreating form.

Even when she returned from the hut and sat back down near the trunk of the tree, he was still glaring accusingly at her.

She acted as if he wasn't there, and he was pretty sure he was right even if he couldn't see the expression in her eyes, as she sat comfortably in the lush grass and removed her wooden sandals, placing them to the side.

He clicked his tongue against his teeth in irritation and began slicing the pods once more with the dinky wooden mallet.

'I'll show her that I wasn't showing off'.

She giggled so softly, that he almost missed it in his mild state of irritation, and he at once forgot about what he was pissed off with her to begin with.

When all the beans were removed from the pods, the baskets were then taken into the hut, where a small group of heavy looking women set to cleaning and crushing them to pieces.

Inuyasha watched in mild fascination for a mere second till he was 'shooed' away from the hut by one of the women and informed to go and wash up for his midday meal.

He snorted slightly through his nose when he was ordered by a woman to leave the interesting activity going on inside the hut. But then he thought that it was a good idea considering his stomach began to churn at the mere mention of food.

The children were washing near a large, wooden basin. Each child set about to washing their tiny hands with light colored, scented soaps and splashing each other a bit in amusement or creating bubbles that would then pop at the mere warm pressure of their curious hands.

Inuyasha chuckled to himself when a little girl also used the soap to make a fake beard on her chin made from bubbles.

'Their joy and laughter is just so innocent'.

When they had dried off, they walked back under the shaded tree that had a large blanket already set up with various dishes of freshly sliced fruit, and sandwiches.

The children gathered around the food and each one took a helping to some fresh fruit and other delicious snacks.

Just before they were about to dig in on the feast, each child and the princess herself, closed their eyes and bowed their heads for a moment of silence.

'Even the children do what the adults do...but what is the significance of all of this', he himself bowed his head out of respect for their mysterious custom, but his eyes remained open and observant.

When the quiet moment had passed each one opened their eyes and began to hungrily devour the food right in front of them.

The princess was silently munching on a piece of plum, looking pensive and deep in thought.

Shippo had stuffed almost an entire sandwich in his mouth when he poked Inuyasha in the side to grab his attention towards him.

"Fy...wur yu feekum furin fanful fime?", the kitsune replied with a mouth full of food.

"Huh?", the general raised an eyebrow in question as to what the kitsune was trying to mean.

Shippo managed to swallow the food after a quick chew, "I said why were you peeking during thankful time. I saw you...and you were peeking", he quietly whispered as if he would be caught doing something wrong at any minute.

"You're suppose to keep your two eyes closed and say thank you in your head for everything that you got".

Inuyasha blinked a couple times as he let the information he just received from a small child, probably no older than six, as if he was experienced with a greater knowledge than any elder would ever be.

"Thanks...I'll keep that in mind next time", he whispered back, not wanting to hurt the kit's sense of pride at the moment.

Although he did make a mental note to himself to ask someone who might understand the importance of this moment of silence before a meal.

When everyone had finished the last of their food, the princess went towards the hut and brought back a tray with pieces of delicious looking wagashi, and with large, red strawberries on top of each piece.

She handed the largest slice to him and he took it gratefully.

He set it to the side for the moment, and accepted a cup of fresh milk from one of the large ladies that came from the hut and served everyone with a nutritious beverage, and then went back in.

He sipped at the cool milk slowly, he was never one to drink anything other than tea, water or sake, but he had to admit that the milk that went down his throat; was the best, sweet tasting milk he had ever tried since his youth.

He sighed in contemplation when he realized how good it felt to be free of worries and other disturbances.

It was only when he finished the last drop of his milk and reached for his treat, that his brow began to form into small creases.

'What the?...my wagashi treat...its gone', he stared baffled at his empty wooden plate.

'One of the kids must of taken it...but who?', he stared at each and every single child within a couple feet of him.

They all had cream and red strawberry stains on their faces and hands, but he just didn't have the heart to accuse one of them for stealing his treat.

'Even if I did yell at them...they'll cry and I'll make the princess mad, then I'll be in for it. Besides if I make any of them upset I'll just look like a bad guy and that will make matters worse.'

'Ah well...nothing to get upset over for anyways...although it did look really good'.

It was only after that they had finished eating that the children settled down on the ground and entertained themselves with small games.

One by one they began to feel the drowsy effects of the early afternoon and started taking comfort near the princess or the treasure hunter.

The princess was casually massaging her neck and Inuyasha noticed a large, dark bruise on the underside of her forearm.

He narrowed his eyes slightly towards it, 'She shouldn't have to be covered in bruises such as those, after all is she not the princess? Her people should protect her...not force her to fight.'

"Why do you do it?".

The princess turned to face him for a second and then turned away, staring towards the grassy plains once more.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said why do you do it?"

"I have no understanding of what you are trying to imply stranger?", she replied.

"This fighting…these so called traditions of yours. Why do you enforce them on your people?".

"Not this argument again".

"Yes this argument again…because the first time you didn't even answer me damn it", he nearly yelled.

"Lower your voice stranger, remember that the little ones are sleeping", she hissed as silently as she could, so as to not rouse the young children sleeping near them.

He snorted through his nose.

"As to the answer of your question…I do not enforce these laws in my people. The traditions of this village were made by my great grandfather, for he saw fit to it the ways of our culture. My father followed the same laws, and so shall the rest of the villagers and I do so until the next generation hereafter".

"Yeah, but can't you change them…I mean that is why you're their leader isn't it?"

"I can not change the laws of our village, only a king may do so", she stated calmly while she stroked the fine hairs on the kitsune's scalp gently.

"Then get him to change your laws then", he growled as low as he could without wanting to stir the children sleeping near his legs.

He noticed that she stiffened in her posture and bit the bottom on her lip in a worried fashion.

"That is not a possibility", she nearly whispered.

"Why…would you rather have women submit to men then?"

"No,…it is not that", her bottom lip began to tremble, "The king…my father…is dead".

Inuyasha was slightly taken back, 'Damn it! How could I have forgotten that her father and mother were both killed by Tsubaki. Man I'm such an idiot'.

"I'm…I'm sorry", he whispered.

"That is all right", she half choked, then she set the children to the side gently and got up to leave towards the hut.

Inuyasha sighed, 'What have I done? Now I've gone and made her cry. I'm so stupid. STUPID! How can I make her cry like that'.

He hated it when women cried, especially those he knew, even if he hardly knew them at all.

He could smell the saltiness of her tears and a gentle sob escape her mouth before she had composed herself and went inside the hut.

Now he really felt bad. He just had to go and ask her questions that were really none of his damn business, and then he had to go and open up old memories.

'I don't even know where my head is anymore', he silently mused to himself.

He felt one of the younger children of the group scoot closer to him and suddenly felt a strange stirring deep within him.

'These children…they're not afraid of me. They trust me. Well…at least I didn't make any of them cry, I don't think I could've handled it'.

The princess returned after a short while, he couldn't really tell what her expression was, but he could definitely sense her aura, with deep sorrow and frustration.

"I'm really sorry about that…I had no right to say…".

She shook her head in a negative fashion, "Let us talk about it later…right now would you mind helping me stir the children. It is time to go and prepare the choco for conching", she didn't stare in his direction and instead went about to waking all the children up.

"What is conching?", his right eyebrow lifted up in curiosity.

"It is the final step in choco making…but if you see for yourself you shall understand what I am trying to mean."

"All right then", he would have to see this 'conching' for himself. 'I wonder what it is?'

He swore that his arms would fall off at any second, but he just had to offer now didn't he? He just had to play the gentlemen in front of everybody in the room.

When they had all arrived inside the hut, an enormous blast of cinnamon, sweet vanilla and other spices filled his lungs pleasantly.

It smelled incredibly sweet in the hut and he copied what the children around him were doing as well, taking second and third deep breaths of the sweet air. He could see the surreal, and content looks on all the children's faces that crowded around the large women currently turning a giant handle.

Each lady took a turn at cranking a large handle, that was connected to two large rollers pushed together and a slick, smooth sheet that rotated over and over again.

The slick sheet kept repeating it's process of continually going through the two large rollers. There was a clay built oven underneath the rollers and sheet, and a fire was currently being feed by firewood every couple of minutes by one of the women. A dark layer of some sort of substance kept coming through the rollers, only to be squeezed out by a thinner and much finer layer then before, only to go through the process once more.

"We have found that we need to knead the choco paste into a very fine layer, because if we do not it is too gritty and bitter. What the village women are doing right now is what we call conching. It is very hard work to make choco and it takes a great deal of patience", the princess explained all this to the general who was just staring at the whole process with awe.

The princess couldn't help but smile at his fascination, he had the same expression as the other children in the room had as well, for they too have never seen the process of making choco until today.

"Allow me to take a turn, for you must surely be sore by now", she had offered the large lady who had her brown village dress soaked in sweat, and wisps of hair escaping from her once neatly tied up bun.

"Thank you princess. One of us will take your turn when you wish to stop", the large lady bowed politely, and went outside for some fresh air.

"Thank you", the princess replied before she grabbed the big handle and started rotating it semi-clockwise just as the other lady had been doing.

She had been only rotating it for about fifteen minutes when the general offered to take over her spot.

She stated that she was fine and that she could go on for another couple of minutes, but he didn't want to hear any of it and told her to give the handle to him.

If there weren't any children that were currently becoming disinterested and fussy at the moment she would of protested. But it was her duty to watch over the children today and she couldn't well let them start running around just because they were bored.

"All right then, but if you grow tired you can stop and let one of the stronger ladies take over for you", she lightly mocked.

He snorted through his nose, not liking the tone that she was using with him.

"I'm sure I can handle it. How hard can it be anyway?", he gave her a smirk before he took the handle with his two hands.

"All right then if you say so…we shall see you in a bit then. I will just be taking the children outside for a walk", she indicated the children to follow her outside the hut, tossing over her shoulder for him not to hurt himself while they were gone.

"Keh", he mumbled back, 'We'll just see who has the last laugh in the end.'

And that's how he got to the point of where his arms felt like they were going to fall off any second.

He had only done it because even though he knew that the princess was the strongest one in the village, she just seemed so tiny and fragile when she was turning the handle, compared to the bigger women that had been turning it before her.

Sure it was bad of him to think that, and he couldn't well voice it or he might humiliate the princess or the large women themselves, so he just offered to take over for her without a fuss.

But that was well over an hour ago and he was still turning the big handle.

The four large ladies that had taken a small break had come back only to watch in fascination at the newcomer work with much determination. Two of them even started giggling with each other and whispering things that he'd rather not hear, for fear of finding out their perverted thoughts.

"He is so handsome looking".

"He has a lot of strength, and his arms…how I wish they were wrapped around me instead".

"Did you catch what his name was…I'm not even sure if I heard him state it".

"Ladies…stop gossiping I think he can hear us with those ears of his".

The ladies all became silent as they watched the man that was currently rotating the handle in such a irresistible manner.

A light sheen of sweet coated his brow, and one drop of his own perspiration rolled down the side of his face and just under his chin, where it dangled for a second or so until it fell on the clay, paved floor.

The princess arrived afterwards with a flush on her cheeks and smiling. The children came busting around her talking excitedly of all the great games they had just played.

Seeing the princess in such a manner with a beautiful hue to her cheeks made him perspire more. She was definitely a sight to behold when she wasn't biting people's heads off that is.

She took one look at the newcomer who was still rotating the handle with as much determination and energy as he started, and almost gasped out loud.

'There is no way he could have been conching the choco paste the entire time we were gone…there is no way'.

Inuyasha smirked in her direction, "Is there something the matter princess", he replied coolly.

She closed her slightly parted mouth quickly and crossed her arms.

"Truth be told, I am just surprised to see you still at it stranger".

"Keh, this is more like a vacation for me".

'Actually his arms were screaming for a much needed rest at the moment, but he would rather ignore the soreness he was feeling just so he could show the princess that he really could do this.

She stepped closer to where he was, "You will tire yourself out soon", she sang in a mocking tune.

He ignored her and concentrated on his task at hand. If he focused himself then he could finish the rest of the conching process on his own without letting the other women tire themselves out, so long as he droned out the princess's teasing.

"You women have must have it hard if the process takes this long to make", he huffed.

One of the larger women blushed while she responded to the handsome man's response, "It may take some effort, but it is well worth the process".

The princess noticed the lady's blush but didn't comment on it, and instead placed her attention on the younger ones whom were hungry once more.

Inuyasha saw her leave with the children once more and became slightly disinterested in turning the handle, he was just doing it to prove her wrong.

He was about to give his turn to one of the nearby ladies were watching him with interest, when she quickly came back inside the hut.

"I shall be outside with the little ones for a bit again…come and tell me if the newcomer faints from exhaustion", she smirked in Inuyasha's direction before she ran back out again.

"Why that little…", he growled audibly to himself.

The women chuckled, thinking that she was only teasing the handsome newcomer and not being serious at all.

'I'll show her who's the one that's gonna faint once I'm done with this'.

"Go treasure hunter!".

"Yeah you can do it !"

"Just an itsy bitsy more Mr. Treasure hunter".

The children were cheering for the general who was almost done conching the cocoa into a fine sheet of soft choco.

The said man's right eyebrow began to twitch in slight irritation, not from the soreness of his arms…but of the nickname that the children had given him.

'Treasure Hunter?'

The princess had her arms cross and was just standing there looking displeased or irritated he wasn't sure which one exactly, but he definitely was trying hard not to rub it in her face.

He felt encouraged by the children, they were all cheering him on with a lot of enthusiasm and energy that he himself pushed the last of his strength into turning the handle a couple more times.

The ladies had informed him that the conching process was finished and set about to scraping off the fine material from the slick sheet attached to the incredibly large, heavy rollers.

Inuyasha huffed for air as he examined his sore hands, 'Boy what a workout! I'm going to need to take care of these blisters though'.

There were large red welts on his rough, calloused hands and when he touched one it stung a bit.

"My my, ye should go and put something on it before it becomes infected", a large lady with a slightly piggish nose and with beady eyes, informed.

"Yeah…um I'll just go and wash up", he shrugged as if it weren't a big deal.

'They don't have to care…its not like it hurts anyway. And besides I proved the princess wrong too. The wench', he huffed as he headed round the back of the hut to pour some cold water on his blisters.

He drew back a small amount of air through his teeth when he immersed his hands into the cold water.

'Damn it that fucken hurts', he silently mused as he gritted his teeth hard.

"You should of not have done that".

Inuyasha glanced behind his shoulder at the girl was approaching him from behind.

"Says who?", he replied defiantly.

"I do…those blisters of yours will only become worse now", she took one of his hands out of the water.

A bolt of electricity shot through his being at her mere touch and he fought the oncoming blush that was tempting its way across his face.

"What the heck are you doing?", he snapped and pulled back his hand from her grasp.

"What does it look like…I am bandaging it up for you", she held up some white bandages for him to see.

"I don't need them', he huffed.

"Quit trying to act so tough", she gently replied and took his hand once more into her own two and began to swiftly tie the bandages around his hand.

He blushed a shade of red when he realized how close they actually were, and then he blushed another darker shade of red when he let the realization sink in that she was actually touching him.

"Why are you doing this for me anyway", he mumbled softly.

"Because it is my way of saying thank you for finishing up the rest of the conching process", she began to tie the other hand with bandages as well.

"Keh", he looked away blushing.

She giggled softly and when she had finished wrapping up his hands she slapped the backside of his hand playfully.

"Now the next time you think that you are going to show off, do not do it when the little ones are around all right. For you are showing them a bad example", she giggled and spun on her heels, leaving the treasure hunter to gawk behind her.

"Heh, like I was showing off!", he reasoned with himself that he wasn't that he was just trying to prove a point with her. But the more he thought about it on his way inside the hut, the more it seemed that he was in fact showing off as the princess had put it.

'But at least she was nice to me for being an idiot', he took a quick glance of her handiwork before he stepped foot inside the hut.

The children were already settled around a table waiting patiently for one of the ladies to hand them a piece of thick piece of rice paper each.

As soon as he neared the group, one of the children, a small boy with hair tied into a small braid, pulled the treasure hunter to his side of the table where Shippo and some others who had taken a great liking to the said man.

He settled onto the floor in between the children and was given a piece of thick rice paper of his own.

"We figured after all the hard work you put into making this choco, you deserve a little bit too", the princess gave him a big, toothy smile.

'Oh she's mocking me again…I just know it'.

She smirked before she turned and left to help the other women, at the larger table near an open window, with making choco for the village people.

The children around Inuyasha began to scope up some of the choco in heaps onto their rice paper. Many of them began to make shapes in all different sizes and some ate the choco as they went along trying to make a design.

Inuyasha scrunched his brow in concentration for a moment until he finally decided of what to make his choco out of. He was surprised to find it tasted exactly as the same mysterious sweet the princess herself had given him on the last day he was in the forest lost.

He turned to look at the princess who was busy wrapping up another white parcel. She was beautiful, witty and strong and he couldn't deny that her anger also made her seem cute somehow, what with the rosy flush of her cheeks and the spike in her scent.

After a moment of gazing at her graceful form, he shook his head mentally and looked away abruptly. 'I shouldn't be thinking of these things…I could get into a lot of trouble for it later.'

Excitement broke out amongst the children when they had finished with their small projects. Each one examined the other's next to them and then took giant bites out of the delicious tasting sweet, that had taken a great chunk out of their time today.

"Inuyasha what is yours suppose to be? Mine's a big sun", Shippo peered curiously at the man's design next to him.

"It's a sword", the general took the said item in his hand and pretended to stab at his mouth as if it were a formidable foe and took a big bite out of it when it went past his lips.

The group of children squealed in excitement and then pretended that their pieces of choco were weapons as well, even if some of their designs were actually teddy bears and flowers.

'Such hard work for something so simple…and yet', he looked at the young faces that looked up to him for the moment, ' it was all worth it…just for them.

The women began to leave one by one until there was only one lady with long, fiery red hair, large brown hazel orbs, and soft features who cleaned the remaining things up and readied the children for their trip home.

The children whined when they were told that they were to be taken home because it was close to their last meal of the day. None of the little ones wanted to go home, not after they had made an interesting, new friend and had lots of fun playing.

The princess chuckled when one of them, a little boy with dots across his face and down his neck and shoulders, clung onto the treasure hunter's legs as if it were his only lifeline of escape from being sent home.

Inuyasha looked at a lost for a moment, until he grinned mischievously and began to play the dragging game with the boy still wrapped around his leg.

The other children found the new game interesting between the two and began to crowd around the hanyou excitedly, talking all at once that they too wanted a turn.

The General lightly sweat dropped, 'Great…now what?'

"Seems like you have your hands full…I mean legs", the princess replied with a grin when she exited the hut.

Inuyasha crossed his arms and snorted in her response.

"Thank you for all your help today lady Kanisha, without the help of the women as well as yours today I would have been at a loss", the princess bowed politely to the red haired women.

"Nay, the pleasure was all mine. Please do send my regards to the Lady Kaede and tell her I shall stop by tomorrow for a cup of tea", Lady Kanisha bowed politely in return and left towards the village.

When the women had left, Kagome turned towards the newcomer dressed in the traditional dark clothing of the hunters in the village.

"Would you care to accompany me to each of the children's homes, it would be nice if you become acquainted with some of the people of this village. Or would you rather be off now…you must be incredibly tired now after a long day?".

"No, I don't have much to do so I'll tag along if you don't mind princess", Inuyasha picked up a child that was wanting some attention, and hefted him onto his shoulders.

"Thank you so much for everything stranger. I really do appreciate all you have done for me today", the princess readjusted the basket she was carrying in her hand and onto the crook of her arm.

"It was nothing", he shrugged.

The princess chuckled and turned back to look at the children who were slowly dragging their feet with sullen looks on their faces.

"What is wrong children?", she bent to pick one of them up who looked close to tears, and with a chocolate covered cheeks.

"I don wanna go home", he replied innocently, with pouty lips and puppy dog eyes that it made the princess want to hug him for being so adorable.

"But do you not want to show your mama and papa your adventures today?".

Some of the children behind the boy brightened up and started nodding excitedly, but the boy with the adorable puppy dog look shook his head in a negative fashion.

"Why not?", she replied gently.

For a moment Inuyasha almost believed that she was speaking with her son, what with the way she was talking so sweetly and gently towards the small child.

He snorted at his own stupid, irrational thoughts and focused on how he could probably help out in the situation instead.

"Becauth", he sniffed.

"Because why", she smoothed out his hear in an affectionate, motherly way when a child was upset over something.

"Becauth my mama and papa don wanna play with me. They think I'm too little and don have time fo me. I wanna stay with you princesth and Mr. Treasthure hunter."

"Come on kid I bet your parents want you home now. Besides there's always another day that we can all hang out again".

He couldn't believe what he was saying, and even the princess turned to look at him.

'Why would I even want to spend time again with a bunch of kids when I got things to do around here. But still it wouldn't be so bad, they can actually be a lot of fun. I guess'.

"Really?", the boy's face suddenly brightened up. "Okay then…I will go home only if Mr.Treasthure hunter can carry me", he waved his hands excitedly.

Inuyasha sighed, looking for a moment as if he were about to protest, but then he glanced down at the brown haired boy's innocent look and just gave in.

"All right then, but hold on tight", he hefted the child onto his other shoulder.

The two children that were happily riding onto of the general's shoulders squealed with excitement.

The princess chuckled, "Wow, they really adore you".

"Keh", inuyasha replied as his cheeks turned a hue of red.

"And everyone really enjoyed the way the choco had turned out".

"Heh of course! I helped make it didn't I?", he replied smugly.

"Yes and the blame shall be on you if anyone becomes sick. Okay".

"Oh you're just asking for it aren't you?", he snorted.

"Whatever do you mean stranger?", she feigned innocence.

"Forget it", he nearly growled and shrugged his shoulders slightly so the children riding on each side of his neck could stay on comfortably.

The princess giggled softy to herself, " I was only teasing stranger. No need to take the matter seriously".

"I wasn't", he huffed, and continued to look straight ahead of him in a serious manner.

The girl next to him dressed in a beautiful light pink cheongsam, fitting to her every feminine curves remained quiet for the remaining short trip back into the village, only speaking to the children next to her every so often.

It wasn't until they had passed the village entrance that the princess noticed something very odd in the stranger's hair.

At the very top of his hair there were three sets of brown hand prints.

She couldn't figure out why in the world their were three sets? Two she could understand quiet clearly for their were two children on his shoulders, but the third…they seemed a lot bigger, too big to belong to one of the children.

"Um…stranger", she began.

He turned to look at her with a questioning gaze and then frowned when she began to bite her lip, procrastinating the moment with what she was intending to say to him.

"What is it", he asked in a bored, monotone voice and then looked away once more.

"Nothing…its nothing".

'I better not tell him, he might upset the children. Besides it is quiet funny to see those cute, small hand prints in that mane of his.'

Yeah! Another chappie done… and sorry for the long, overdue wait. I've been receiving a lot of strange threatening emails too, but here it is finally. And I'll try not to let that much length in time happen in between each chapter...it so destroys the mood. Hope you all enjoy and please review…please with choco covered cheeks and a cute puppy dog face (lips slightly trembling)

Love ya all!!!!!

Definitions.

Shinai– wooden sticks, similar to swords, that are used in Kendo… (I wanted to use the word Bokken, but I figured this is more descriptive)

Choco– well I was gonna use chocolate' but figured uhh..well that was discovered by the spaniards.

Well good bye everyone and thanks to all those who have reviewed thus so far you all are an amazing inspiration.

Blessings

Babydragon


	9. My Name

Thank you to all those who have reviewed so far. I really love you guys and you are all an inspiration. This one goes out to all those who are on my Babydragon fanfic forum, and Cwilia in answer to your question…no Sesshy won't be in this fanfic, although he is mentioned a couple of times. I am so sorry, I wish he was in here myself I like his character, but I do not know where to fit him at all. But if I could I would…so we shall see. And yeah Inu and the princess do have a lot of walls around them…but ah where would a story be if it weren't suspenseful? I am evil after all.!! (mad, insane laughter in the background)

Disclaimer: Inuyasha isn't mine…he's Rumiko's to torture and play with. Oh the woes of life!

Chapter 9 My Name

"Noooo!…Let me go, I don wanna go", came the high pitched shriek of a small child, whom was currently clutching madly at the General's hair.

The General flattened his ears against his head to drone out the high pitched wails of the small boy,the seemingly high tone of his screams threatening to burst his sensitive auditory canal. 

"Come on down son, you can't stay up there forever", the seemingly young looking women, with dark wispy hair and a haggard look, placed both her hands on her hips firmly.

"Yes I can", the child wailed, and buried himself into the General's long mane of hair, with a defiant look on his face.

The mother let out a sigh of defeat, "I am so sorry about this, he usually does not act like this…honestly. Please forgive me", she bowed nervously before them in a humble manner.

"Do not apologize about this my dear Lady Azura. I am very sure that the newcomer does not mind at all. Am I not right stranger?", she held back a small giggle as she acknowledged the man beside her.

"Yeah…sure, not a problem at all", he replied with a small twitch in his right eyebrow, and with a tone that dripped with sarcasm.

"Oh my now really, you sure are a dear to be able to handle all of them at once. I just do not know how you do it", Lady Azura replied not noticing the sarcasm. "Come along now son, supper is getting cold and you need to wash before you eat".

"Agh!", the child mumbled defiantly underneath the General's mane.

The mother frowned and moved to where her child was hiding and grabbed him by the legs. 

Realizing he was about to be taken away from his new friend, the child then quickly latched onto the General's ears and began to hold on for dear life.

"No. No . No!", he screamed as loudly as he could, making a couple of neighbors turn in their direction curiously.

Inuyasha bit down on his lip hard to keep from yelping at the pain he felt, and dug his nails into his palms to refrain from tearing off the boy from his head roughly.

The Princess acted quickly when she noticed the trouble the newcomer was in. Reaching into her basket, made from the finest straw, she pulled out a small, white parcel and waved it in front of the small boy.

The child eyed it greedily and released the General's ears in the process of grabbing the small gift from the Princess. He then hugged it close to his chest as if it were the most important and precious item in the world. 

"I am sorry did he hurt you?", the lady took the child into her arms, away from the mistreated newcomer.

Inuyasha crossed his arms in a signature fashion, and with a scowl on his face he mumbled "no".

The princess chuckled lightly, "We shall be heading off now. I do believe it is getting late, and for allowing me to look after your son today I am more than happy to give you this small gift", she then took out another small, white parcel.

"Ah! Princess your heart is too kind. Believe me you may take my son with you for the day anytime. It brings me much peace to know he shall meet other children and will be well protected with you". 

The Princess bowed humbly, "Your kind words touch me deeply Lady Azura. I bid you a good evening then. Until next time then", she bowed once more and began to depart.

Inuyasha followed in tow after her, rubbing his ears and mumbling sourly to himself.

"Bye, bye doggy man. Good bye", the small boy called out happily, waving his tiny hand in the air innocently as his new friend departed. 

"Doggy man?", Inuyasha turned his head back with an annoyed scowl on his face.

"Come on, let us be on our way", the Princess giggled, "After all the children really do admire you and they do not mean any harm".

"Keh!", he turned away blushing and began to scratch the back of his head casually.

He then suddenly let out a sound of disgust.

"Gah! What the hell is this stuff? It's all over my head!".

"It will not come out, I can assure you of that", the princess looked away quickly, trying to suppress a chuckle.

"Are you serious", he asked in disbelief.

"Positive".

"You're not pulling my leg…right?".

"No, I am not".

She sounded very serious at the moment that he actually believed her for a slight second, until that is, she started bursting out into an uncontrolled laughter.

"You…you should of seen the…look on your face", she gasped, "I was not being serious at all".

"Ha, ha and I just find that highly amusing as well!", he snorted roughly through his nose.

She continued to lightly chuckle, while he continued to scowl at her throughout their walk back into the middle of the village.

They neared the dinner hall just as many of the warrior hunters were coming in for their last meal of the day. The princess stilled slightly when she noticed a familiar warrior dressed in white approach around the corner of the vast hall. She then visibly relaxed when she looked upon the warrior's face and realized it was none other than her closest companion and most trustful warrior. 

"Souta, It is a surprise to see you here. I assumed you would of joined Lady Kaede and I tonight for supper?"

The tall, youthful warrior with short, spiked hair scratched his chin nervously before he replied to her question.

"Yeah well…Baba is scary right now. She's threatening to hit me with the whip if I come home late in the evenings again".

The princess shook her head in a negative manner, "Serves you right for having to make an elder worry over you!".

A small, mischievous smile crossed over the youthful warrior's face as he advanced towards the princess.

"What is that wonderful smell? Don't tell me you were trying to hide the Choco from me. You know better than that…I am you're elder brother and you must share everything with me. Baba said so!", he grabbed her basket in a quick flash and began to rummage inside it.

"Hey! Give that back! I demand you Souta, primary leader of the hunters, to give me back my basket right this minute!".

Souta stuck out his tongue childishly and dodged every swipe the princess threw at him with her hands.

"Neh! No way you brat!"

Inuyasha looked on in amusement, even though she had threatened him…she seemed to be having a carefree time with her elder brother, as siblings always do.

'_So this guy is her older brother…and he's the top hunter of the village. That explains the white clothing, which was meant to set the leaders apart. But what about that guy Bankotsu, is he another one of the top leaders of the village as well?'_

"Souta! Give it back!".

"No!", he ducked once more as she swung at him, "Hey guys the princess made more choco and says that it's for everyone", he then yelled loudly inside the dinner hall.

A couple of the warrior hunters came running outside the hall quickly, stumbling over one another as they approached the horrified princess.

" I shall kill you slowly for this later", she whispered under her breath innocently and too sweetly for him to just take so lightly.

Souta gulped and then shrugged his shoulders, "If you do then I won't give this back to you then", taking a small bite of the unwrapped choco, while he grinned evilly.

"Hey it's not hard like the last batch you made sister, and this one actually tastes sweet too", he exclaimed.

She pursed her lips slightly, "Humph!"

"Hey everyone this isn't hard like the last batch we had".

A couple more men came running outside to help themselves to one of the small packages of the sweet, dark colored treat.

The princess crossed her arms and fumed in her own anger as her wonderful supply of choco was quickly consumed by many warriors, thanking and nodding in agreement about how delicious the new batch was.

"Whoa! What happened to you Inuyasha?", Souta finally noticed the newcomer presence after he had finished off his share in choco. "Looks like you got mauled by a bunch of kids".

The weary looking General, with dark hand prints in his tousled mane shrugged casually. "You could say that".

"See that's why I'm a hunter and not a caregiver".

"And you still do a rotten job of it", the princess snatched her basket away from the unsuspecting warrior. 

Souta gave her his best innocent look, "Aw...don't be so mean sis".

She growled slightly at him and was about to respond to his comment, when she noticed the one she had been trying to avoid all day.

It was Bankotsu, whom was currently walking towards the dinner hall, and with one arm hanging forbiddenly close around a girl's shoulders, near the chest area. A young girl at that, and wearing a large, rather overly decorated mask that was suppose to resemble a simple, unique bird.

Inuyasha quickly noticed a slight change in the princess's posture and looked towards in the direction she was currently eyeing.

"I must leave Souta. I have many duties I must do before the day is over…excuse me", she replied quickly and turned to leave.

Souta noticed her hurried departure and stared after her retreating form confused.

He then turned to Inuyasha who was also staring after her with a worried expression.

"Care to join us tonight for supper Inuyasha?", he shrugged off the confusion and focused on a different change of topic.

"Um… you go on ahead. There's something I gotta do first", he took off at a full sprint, leaving a slightly confused warrior behind.

'_Is he…going after my sister?'._

'_Damn can she ever walk fast'_, Inuyasha frowned as he neared a corner and sped up. He didn't find her till she was half way across a clearing, and nearing a large weeping willow tree that overlooked a small, natural pond.

"Princess wait!".

As usual she didn't stop in her hasty attempt to escape from the General, nor did she acknowledge that she had even heard him at all.

He would of turned back if it were any other moment, for he didn't care about the problems that went on with the princess or not. He could of easily stopped in his tracks, turned around and headed straight back to the dinner hall, where he could of listened to the interesting hunts of the say from different warriors. But no, none of it seemed to matter at the moment. The Princess was all alone out here with no one to turn to but herself, feeling neglected and hurt.

He would rather stay and comfort her.

Even if she does not want him to.

She reached near the edge of the gigantic willow tree and sat on top of one of the protruding, large roots.

He approached her slowly….calmly.

She sighed and placed her basket near the trunk of the tree. Never once turning to acknowledge the General slowly approaching her.

"Let me be…I do not need anyone so just leave", she sniffled lightly.

Bringing her knees upwards towards her chest, she sighed heavily and buried her self between the small space, created when she had brought her legs up.

Taking a light sniff of the air around him, he smelled the salty tinge of tears and another slight intriguing scent, that he could not quiet put a finger on at the moment.

He didn't budge from his spot, nor did he intend to, she was clearly upset and if he advanced towards her any more so…then who knew if she happened to decided to take her anger out on him. 

And he would never be able to defend himself against her. He would not dare to raise a hand towards a women, more so a princess.

'_Why will he not leave…can he not understand that I need to be alone. Stupid baka! He just does not get it does he'._

"I believe…I know why you're upset…princess", he took another step closer to her.

An audible growl began to emanate from her and she turned her head sharply towards him.

"You know nothing about me stranger so do not assume such things!", she snapped.

He held up his hands in front of his chest in a placate manner. "That's not what I meant. I mean it is and it isn't". He wanted to physically slap himself upside the head for being an idiot at the moment. 

"I do not understand you stranger", she turned away and decided to settle upon viewing the calm, surreal pond before her.

"Sorry", he mumbled and went to go sit down on lush, green grass beside her. "What I meant was…he upset you didn't he? The warrior named Bankotsu, am I right?"

"Just drop it all right. I do not even want to think about him at the moment".

Inuyasha sighed, '_Guess she's not going to tell me after all'._

It became silent between them, and it began to irritate the General when she did not say anything further, and just stared at the calm scene in front of her.

"This village is different…there are a lot more people who seem to be accepting of…well everything', he finally added when the silence became unbearable.

He causally picked up a smooth rock beside him and gave its unique designs and patterns a couple of glances before he chucked it into the water.

A small 'plop' noise followed when it made contact with the sheer, glean surface of the water. Tiny ripples expanded from the center of the small void, making nearby lily pads bounce from the slight vibration.

"I am also trying to locate the treasure that Tsubaki is after. I'm already familiar with the grounds in this village, and I've searched everywhere I could think a person may hide something valuable. But I've had no luck so far, and I was thinking of maybe moving my search to the deeper parts of the forests".

'_If anything I thought that would probably get her to talk. Heh, stubborn woman!'_

"I want to help your people so with your permission, Princess, I believe that if I searched the deepest parts of the forest…I might be able to find that treasure everyone dreads here", he continued.

He sighed when she didn't respond to that either. _'I might as well be talking to myself'_

He was surprised when she turned her head to meet his and smiled, a soft and yet genuine smile.

"You are different than most city people that I have heard rumors about and have meet", she peered down at the grass in front of her and studied it odd geometrical shape. 

"I thank you for caring and for helping us all".

He blushed slightly at the praise he received from the princess, and for some reason it just felt as if he had finished a race, his heart was beating so hard and fast within his chest.

"Keh, well it's no big deal", she gave him another large smile, and he gulped, "I mean…its all right I guess".

She nodded and looked up towards the sky, it was beginning to grow dark and the sun was just settling behind the giant mountains in the far distance.

A soft curtain of dark reds and oranges settled upon the world, enveloping it into its own cloak of mystery.

"Will you forgive me stranger?".

Inuyasha frowned for a slight moment and then relaxed his features into a look of confusion.

"For what?"

"For having of treated you very horribly from the start. It was wrong for me to have believed that you were no better than all of the other city people from Magasaki town.

And….I was lying when I stated that you smelled of city filth".

It was Inuyasha's turn to become quiet now, and for the longest moment he actually didn't say anything, nor did he mind the awkward silence between them.

"You don't smell too bad either…I lied too", he blushed an even darker shade and forced himself to look away before he permanently stayed the color.

"Thank you stranger".

"Keh!".

"Tell me… what is it like in the city, I have never been there and the only one time I have, was quick and blurred with anger".

He scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Well let's see it's not so bad when you become use to it after a while. And there's running water for sure".

"Running water?", the Princess asked confused.

"Yeah, it basically comes from a pump so you don't have to be hulling these big buckets back and forth. It's quicker that way and a lot less work".

"Interesting, such as in a waterfall?"

"That's a perfect example to describe it, see now you're getting the picture".

She smiled, "Please tell me more about the life of the city people".

"Well, there's a lot of things here that are as similar to how things are in the city. Like the merchants in the village, we have a lot of them that sell products or gain merchandise. The only difference is that the one in the city are a lot more aggressive, and are corrupt by the idea of money".

"Money?".

"Oh sorry, guess you've never seen money here have you? Its just little pieces of metal that we use in order to obtain items such as food".

She nodded her head in understanding, although it all did sound very complicated to her.

"The Lady Kaede, whom often visits the city once every year to exchange some of our products for others, states that there are places that will just bring tears to one's eyes. A few of the people are often found in the city and brought here, they all just want a different life. A life away from there."

Inuyasha folded his arms in a defiant manner, "Not all places are exactly bad. In fact there are places there that are just amazing that even you will be surprised".

"I shall take your word for it then. I mean there are a lot of people here from the city and many of them have good hearts, so my guess is…not all things seem to be negative from there".

'_Damn it all, she just looks so gorgeous when she's happy. What the hell is wrong with me, why do I feel…this way?'_

"Yeah", he replied in a daze. 

She turned to look at him and cocked her head to the side cutely.

He gulped hard, and shook his head slightly, pushing back unwanted feelings to the back of his mind.

"I hope to visit the city one day and see the many intriguing and wonderful places you speak of stranger. That is…never mind", she shook her head in a negative fashion and looked away.

"What's wrong?".

"Nothing do not worry yourself".

"No, something is wrong. What is it?".

"It is nothing just as I have said. Now please drop it".

Inuyasha sighed, _'Wow talking to her is like picking rice from a pile of sand'._

"You must have it pretty hard, you are a Princess after all. I bet the responsibility can be so overwhelming at times."

She turned to look back at him, _'This stranger….why is he acting so? Never has anyone spoken to me like he does.' _

"What makes you say that stranger? I have already told you that there is nothing that you know of me so do not assume."

"I'm not assuming anything, I'm just stating the obvious. Besides I have a big responsibility and expectation to live up to as well, so I know how you must feel at times".

She bit the bottom of her lip lightly, "Then you must live quiet a life stranger'.

"Probably not as complicated as yours Princess, you're treated with respect everywhere you set foot in the village, and your people worry for you all the time", he scooted closer to her 

"My people worry over for me…because I am the last of my race. Nothing more", she mumbled.

"The last of your race?"

"Yes, I am the last of the ancient, White wolves , and if I were to die then my people would panic", she huffed.

"They would, but for an entirely different reason that you believe in, Princess.", he wanted to inquire more information about her ancient race, but decided to save those questions for another day. Right now she was just barely opening up to him.

"You're people really do care about you in more ways than you think".

"After a short while, you seem to know a lot about my people".

"Yeah and I know that there's some pretty crazy things that I still do not agree on yet, especially the way women have to fight mean for something stupid".

"And you never cease to speak about it either", she chuckled lightly.

"What is that suppose to mean?", he half growled.

"I mean that you will never let up the fact that our ways are different than yours, but we have a very good, logical reason for everything".

"I've seen the way you fight, and I must say that I'm impressed, but no offense I just find this whole tradition of yours a bit irrational. Is there no other way to settle this than to have a king change the rules?".

She shook her head in a negative fashion, although she never did let the smile on her lips falter one bit.

"And it doesn't bother you one bit?", he asked surprised.

"In a way it does, I would like to have the chance to say yes or no to a fight. But I can not for that is unacceptable to all women here in this village". 

"Such a harsh rule if you ask me", Inuyasha grunted and let a deep frown mar on his face. 

"We have become accustomed to the rule, so it does not bother anyone here anymore as much as it use to".

"I see. So where did you learn to fight like that. You do have some strong maneuverability and tactics that you use".

" I was taught at a very young age by my father. He trained both Souta and I his way of fighting every day from dawn to dusk for years. Afterwards, I then began to seek out my own skills amongst others by secretly watching them. For I was not allowed back then to be amongst my people as I am now".

"Really, how come?".

"It was because I was a girl, and my father's only blood related child. Everyone treated me as a fragile piece of jade, and I loathed the feeling of being kept indoors all the time. It was only then that one day my father had spotted me looking longingly outside, while the children played, that he ordered for me to do as I wished. And the first thing I decided to do was to finally step out and be amongst my people for good. Till this day, I thank my father very deeply for having cared for the welfare of others and myself", she said her last words with a sigh and brought her arms around her waist as if to comfort herself in some way.

"Princess…if anything, I promise you that I shall find that treasure and end this conflict with that woman Tsubaki".

'_What the heck am I saying?…snap out of it you fool, this is going in way deeper than I had expected'._

"And I will help you to avenge the death of your father and many others who had died in vain because of Tsubaki", he continued with the same tone of audaciousness as before, without a single waver in his voice.

'_I can't just ignore her now that she needs as much help as she can. I won't allow Tsubaki to continue to torture the lives of these people. Even if I have to give my own in return, just to stop her destruction for these people's lives. And for her'._

The princess giggled lightly, "Stranger you do not know what you are getting yourself into, but still I must thank you for your bravery and acceptance of this whole ordeal. It comforts me to know that there are some people out there that will strive to do justice, and you stranger are one of them".

His face had been his regular tone of color for a small amount of time, that is…until she had spoken those words of praise to him.

Blushing, he looked away so she wouldn't see that he was embarrassed by her words.

"You have brought this heavy burden upon yourself stranger, and have asked nothing in return. Please do not hesitate to ask if there is something that you wish, just ask and it shall be granted. I give you my word".

"There is, one thing that I wouldn't mind having you do for me", he stated calmly.

She panicked, just slightly for a small moment between his spoken words and pause.

'Maybe I should have not have given him such a retribution. What if he asks for something that is far beyond my control?'.

A thousand thought were going on through his mind in the mere moment of his silence. At first they were demanding, then perverted, followed by greed, and ending with perversion once more. He just couldn't help himself, here was this beautiful, young maiden that he could easily ask anything of, or take and no one would be able to stop him if he decided to do so. But then reality hit him hard, and he had to shake those unwanted thought away from his mind. He couldn't ask those things of her, she is a Princess for crying out loud, she was way out of his league…and there was also the fact that he was married. To a woman he didn't even care for that was, but yet still married none the less.

"Tell me your name, Princess", he finally stated.

She was taken back slightly by such a request, but none the less very surprised. 

"My name? Why would you like to know that?"

"Because that's what everyone here calls you and not once have I ever heard anyone say your given name", he shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

She looked at her hands for a mere moment until she looked back up at him.

"I guess it will be all right….my name given to me by birth…."

She went quiet for a moment before she continued.

"Is Kagome".

"Kagome', he repeated quietly to himself. He liked it, and it really suited her personality, she just looked and acted like a Kagome.

"Keh, its no wonder everyone here calls you Princess, the name Kagome just sounds like a type of fish".

Her temper flared and the scent in her aura spiked up immensely,

"What did you just say stranger? Take it back or else!".

He laughed hysterically, and clutched the side of his stomach as he tried to remain sane while he talked. "Or else what? You going to drown me?", he continued hollering in laughter. 

She huffed and crossed her arms defiantly and turned her whole frame away from him, "Well you were the one who wanted to know my name, so that does not mean you have to be a baka about it".

"Don't tell me you're upset again. I was only teasing you ya know", he got up and sat down right next to her on the same large, protruding root of the weeping willow.

"You are a mean person you know that", she tensed slightly when he came near her.

"I was only joking all right", he grabbed her arm gently, "Besides I'm not the one who started it remember".

"Oh, and are you assuming that I did?", she half growled at him.

"Yes, I am", he smirked.

"And mind telling me how was I the one to start this all, stranger?".

"Very well, we can start off by the name that you have titled me since the beginning. My given name is Inuyasha, not stranger", he grabbed her opposite shoulder and turned her whole frame around so that she could look at him as he was speaking.

A small spark of electricity shot through him when her large, dazzling eyes of adamant looked deep into his very soul. He shivered then, just slightly, and forced the feeling of his desires to an unknown destination in his mind.

She 'humph'd' and pulled back slightly from his grasp, "well then Inu…yasha as you would like to be called, have a pleasant evening. I am going home", she rose up quickly and stomped of in the direction of her home.

"Are you still upset?", he shouted loudly after her.

"No, I am not upset. I am angry with you", she shouted back and continued on her journey home. 

He had to smile to himself, _'well at least that bastard Bankotsu is gone from her mind. That's what matters most anyway.'_

He went into deep thought about the princess for a moment, thinking of how beautiful she looked with all the colors from the setting sun that cloaked around her delicate form with a surreal glow.

His stomach gave an audible growl to his sensitive ears and he then remembered that he hadn't quiet eaten since mid afternoon.

Not that it mattered really, he didn't give food a second thought when he had followed the upset princess. 

'_Not the Princess…her name is Kagome, like she said it was'._

"Kagome", he quietly whispered once more to himself and looked upon the direction where she had last taken. 

With a small shake of his head, he then headed off back into the middle of the village and towards the dinner hall, where he would get some food before it all disappeared.

Just as he was leaving around a bend, a figure dressed in white, stepped out of the dark shadows of a large bush.

He scratched the underside of his chin and looked deep in thought.

'_There is something more about the son of Inu No Taisho than I had first expected. Could it be…that he has fallen in love? I will keep a close eye on him for sure. Who knows he could be a better match for her than anyone in this village could ever be. Even her first fling, Bankotsu'_

He dusted himself lightly and headed back into the middle village, but took a familiar route that lead to the dinner hall easily.

He didn't want anyone to get suspicious of where he had been.

Especially the one who had been comforting his sister.

Please review people, and tell me you're honest opinions so far. Thanks and love you all.

Blessings

Babydragon


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